'.04 



Our Aim— To Study— Preserve— Record— WIscor ,ia Antiquities. 



Vol.2. JANUARY AND APRIL, 1903. Nos. 2 and 3. 




THE 

WISCONSIN 

ARCHEOLOGIST 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGICAL 

SOCIETY. 



SUMMARY 

OF THE 

ARCHEOLOGY 

OF 

WINNEBAGO COUNTY 



^w% 




Wisconsin Archeological Society* 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

Incorporated March 23. 1903. for the purpose of advancing, the study and 
preservation of Wisconsin antiquities. 

OFFICERS. 

President 

H. A. Crosby, of Milwaukee ''.""„ -^ a 

, ,,.,1 Vice-President 

G A. West, of Milwaukee v t> vi ♦ 

W. H. Ellsworth, of Milwaukee y.*""^"-^!"! 

Holland I., porter, of Mukwonago I'^^^'^^t 

p. V. Lawson, of Menasha 

H. P. Hamilton, of Two Rivers "^""slcr'S^y 

C. E. Brown, of Milwauke^ :;::ZZ;Treasurer 

L.R.Whitney, of Milwaukee 

COMMITTEES. 

Survey and Exploration. 

Holland L. Porter. A. Gerend. J.G.Pickett. S.D.Mitchell. F.M.Benedict. 
H. H. WiUard. L S. Drew. P. O. Griste. A. Wenz. 

Membership. 

jas G. Albright. W. H. Elkey. O.J. Habhegger. G. W. Wolff. 

O. L. Hollister. H. M. Jaycox. Elnora C. Folkmar. 

Records. 

A. F. Laue. C A. Koubeck. M. E. Morrissy. Julia A. Lapham. 

Historical. 
R. Wild. Mary J. Lapham. D. Harlowe. 

Press. 
J. G. Gregory. C. Ellsworth. H. E. Haferkorn. 

Meetings. 
These are held in the Lecture Room in the Museum-Library Building, in Mil- 
waukee, on the first Friday of each month, at 8 P. M. 

During the months of July and August no meetings will be held. 
The Executive Board meets on the second Monday in each month. 

f^m (^* i^w 

MEMBERSHIP FEES. 

Resident Members ffJO ^^^ ^^^^ 

Non-Resident Me mbers^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^ ■ $1.00 V ^^±^^^ 

All communications in regard to The Atcheological Society or to the 
"Wisconsin Archeologist" should be addressed to Chaa. E. Brown. Editor. 
care of the Milwaukee Public Museum. 



F 587 
.U5 L4 
Copy 1 




SPADE 

Length 71/8 in. Found at Poygan, Winnebago Co. 

Extreme width 314 in. O. J. Habhegger Cellection, Milwaukee, Wis. 



Weight 11 03. 
Extreme TbicknesB 1 in. 



The Wisconsin Archeolqgist 

A Quarterly Bollbtin Published by the Wisconsin Archeological Society. 



Vol. 2. MILWAUKEE, WIS., JAN. and APRIL, 1903. Ncs. 2 and 3. 

Proceedings of the Archeological Section, November 20, 1902, 
to March 20, 1903. 

MiLAYAUKEE, XO\'EMBER 20, 1902. 

XXXIX ]Monthly Session. Director H. A. Crosby conducted the 
meeting. There were 60 memljers and Adsitors in attendance. 

^Messrs. Charles Quarles, J. W. S. Tonikiewicz, J. K. Mazac, and Dr. 
Cai'l Bruck were recommended for election to membership. 

At the request of ]Mr. Rolland L. Porter the chair appointed Mr. James 
A. Sheridan a committee of one to draft and present to the Wisconsin 
State Board of Agriculture at Madison, a set of resolutions recommending 
that measures be taken to enclose and thus jjermanently preserve a group 
of three mounds located in the State Fair Park at West Allis. 

Mr. P. V. Lawson described a number of kame or gravel pit burials 
in the town of ]Menasha, Winnebago county. Mr. Porter made a brief 
report on the finding of a group of three round mounds on the W. Spence 
property in the town of Vernon and several solitary mounds in the town 
of Mukwonago in Waukesha county. 

An interesting paper on "Moses Strong," written by iliss Julia A. 
Lapham, was read by Secretary BroA^Ti. Mr. Alplionse Gerend followed 
with a discourse on the "Mounds Systems of Sheboygan County," which 
w^as received with great interest by those present. At the close of the 
session Mr. James G. Albright exhibited two maps of the northern United 
States which were published in 1757 and 1775 respectively. 

Milwaukee, Decembek 29, 1902. 

XL Monthly Session. Director H. A. Crosby in the chair. Thirty- 
five members present. 

Applications for membership received from the following gentlemen 
were approved: Dr. J. F. Snyder of Virginia, 111., William Siniger of 
Galena, 111., Dr. Ernest Hantke, Howland Russell, and W. J. Conway of 
Milwaukee. 

Mr. James G. Albright, chairman of the membership committee, re- 
ported briefly on the work of that body. 

Mr. Otto J. Habhegger reported upon the location and exploration of 
a group of three burial mounds situated on lots 6 and 7, section 18, town 
42, near Boulder lake in Vilas county. 

]\Ir. Porter announced that he had commenced the work of platting 
the antiquities of the towns of Vernon and Mukwonago in Waukesha 
county. 

At the conclusion of the business session the following series of short 
papers were read: 

1. A Travelling Anthrcnological Exhibit for Schools, by Mr. Fred- 
erick Houghton, chairman of the Education committee of the Bufi"aIo 



36 WISCONSIX ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 



Academy of Science. In the absence of the author this scholarly contri- 
bution was read by Mr. J. G. Albright. 

2. Some Notable Archeological Finds in Wisconsin, by Mr. Ji,. C. 
Perkins. This paper was read by Mr. Pierson L. Halsey. 

3. Investigation of a Mound at Kaukauna, Outagamie County, by 
Mr. Erskine E. Bailev. 

4. The Disk Pipe in Wisconsin, by Mr. Chas. E. Brown. 

Several of these papers will appear in future numbers of our bulletin. 

Mr. W. H. Elkey exhibited a fine assortment of stone and copper im- 
plements collected for the most part from Central and Southwestern Wis- 
consin sites, and Mr. W. H. Vogel a large and handsome flmt knife found 
in Milwaukee county. 

MiLWAL'KEE, January 16, 1903. 

XLI Monthly Session. Director H. A. Crosby presiding. Forty mem- 
Tjers and some A^sitors present. „ „, , , ^ ,, 

Communications received from Prof. W. O. Emery of Wabash College, 
'Crawfordsville, Ind., W. H. Canfield of Baraboo, E. H. Stiles of Richland 
'City, Dr. Louis Falge of Reedsville, and H. P. Hamilton of Two Rivers, 
were read by the Secretary and duly considered. 

The Director gave notice of the sale of a collection of archeological 
works as presenting an opportunity for members to add to their libraries. 

The Secretary reported briefly on the sessions of Section H: — Anthro- 
pology at the .52nd annual meeting of the Americaji Association for the 
Advancement of Science, held at Washington, D. C, from December 27 to 

January 23. . , , c ^.i j n • 

The regular program for the meeting consisted of the following 

1 The Currency of Uncivilized Africa, by Mr. David Harlowe. 

2 The Social and Industrial Conditions of Wisconsin Aborigines as 
Observed by the French Missionaries, by Prof. M. E. Morrissy of Pio None 
College, St. Francis. . . , tt „ 

3. The Occurrence of Obsidian Implements m Wisconsin, by Hon. 

Publius V. Lawson. t a r^ i 

4 The Iroquois in Wisconsin, by Mr. H. A. Crosby. 
All of these addresses were of an interesting nature and were well ap- 
preciated by the audience. Dr. Louis Falge of Reedsville exhibited a copper 
and a brass bracelet found in the vicinity of a Pottawattomie Indian 
burial place in the town of Eaton, Manitowoc county, and Mr. Rudolph 
Kuehne of Shebovgan, two copper ear ornaments, a small copper and a 
native silver knile found on the Black River village site m Sheboygan 
county. 

Milwaukee, February 20, 1903. 

XLII Monthly Session. Director H. A. Crosby in the chair. One 
hundred members and visitors in attendance. 

The followino- gentlemen were recommended for admission to acti-o 
membership- A. D. Cxrutzmacher of Mukwonago. H. W. Frieden of Miners 
Point, and Messrs. William Orth, Robert Wild and Oscar Altpeter cf 

^ ^The" Secretary announced the receipt of a communication from Sec- 
retary John M True of the Wisconsin State Board of Agriculture to the 
effect that the Board at its annual meeting on February 4, had voted to co- 



PROCEEDIN'iS. 



operate with the Section in the preservation of the several mounds located 
on the fair grounds at W'est Allis. 

This news was received with many expressions of pleasure by the 
audience. 

"" Mr. Brown also reported iipon the progress of the work of collecting 
archeological data by members in various counties in the state. 

In the absence of funds for such a purpose tlie expense of conducting 
these researches were being borne by the members themselves. 

From Mr. P. V. Lawson of Menasha; he had just received his re- 
cently completed "Sununary of the Archeology of Winnebago County.'' 
This he believed to be one of the most valuable manuscripts as yet offered 
to the Section for publication. 

He stated that Mr. George A. West had begun work upon a similar 
list to include the antiquities of Eacine and Kenosha counties and that 
the Messrs. S. D. Mitchell in Green Lake county, EoUand L. Porter and 
Charles Koubeck in Waukesha county, W. H. Canfield in Savik county, 
Alphonse Gerend in Sheboygan county, were progressing well in their 
researches in their several districts. 

It was hoped that the Messrs. H. P. Hamilton, F. j\[. Benedict, W. P. 
Clarke, J. J. Gilman, P. 0. Griste, and other of the more experienced 
and capable members of the Section might be induced to vindertake or 
continue work of a like nature already well begun in their own or adjoining 
districts. 

Letters of interest to the audience received from Mr. Harlan I. 
Smith of New York City, Dr. James Mooney of the U. S. Bureau of Eth- 
nology, Prof. T. H. Lewis, Hon. J. V. Brower and Rev. E. C. Mitchell of St. 
Paul, Rev. Stephen D. Peet of Chicago, Dr. J. F. Snyder of Virginia, Hl.» 
Rev. J. G. Laurer of Plain, Mr. F. M. Caldwell of Princeton, and Mr. L. 
S. Drew of Lodi, Avere read. The announcement of the election of Mr. 
Marshall H. Saville of New York, to the chair of American archeology 
recently established at Columbia University through the munificence of the 
Due de Loubat, was greeted with favor. (Prof. Saville was the first 
stvulent with Dr. F. W. Putnam at Harvard Universitj' when that institu- 
tion established a joint chair of archeology and ethnology, and is now de- 
servingly honored with the holding of the first chair of American arche- 
ology established on the North American continent.) 

The evening's program included the following addresses and papers 
which proved to be of great interest to the unusually large audience 
present : 

1. Commercial vs. Scientific Collecting, by Prof. Warren K. Moorehead 
of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. In the absence of the author this 
paper was presented by Mr. Lee R. Whitney. 

2. George Delaplaine, by Miss Mary J. Lapham, of Oconomowoc. 

3. Evidences of Prehistoric Man on Lake- Suj^erior, by Mr. John T. 
Reeder of Calumet, Mich. 

4. Additions to the List of SfTuk County Antiquities, by Mr. W. H. 
Canfield of Baraboo. Read by Mr. C. E. Brown. 

5. Father Marquette, by Prof. W. H. Beach. 

After the close of the meeting the visitors were permitted to view a 
large and fine collection of Wisconsin pipes, kindly exhibited by Mr. 
George A. West, and a collection of stone and copper implements ex- 
hibited by the Messrs. William and Anton Fessler of Sheboygan. 



38 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2. Nos, 2 and 3. 



Milwaukee, March 20, 1903. 

XLIII iMonthly Session. Twenty-five members present. Director 
H. A. Crosby called the meeting to order. 

The program consisted of a paper on "Early French Influences in 
Wisconsin," by Mr. Robert ^Mld. and the reading of an article written 
by Mr. Publius V. Lawson. entitled "The Copper Age in the United States." 

Both jiapers were well received and discussed by the members in atten- 
dance. 

It was unofficially announced that the Wisconsin Archeological Society 
having been regularly organized by and with the full consent of the mem- 
bers, fh at this would be the last meeting of the Section under the auspices 
of the Wisconsin Xatural Historv Society. 



Proceedings of the Wisconsin Archeological Society^ February 28 
to April 3, J 903. 

Milwat:kee, February 2S, 1903. 

Preliminary Meeting. ]\Ir. Lee R. Whitney presiding. Mr. George 
A. West acting as secretary. 

The following gentlemen Avere present: Hon. Holland L. Porter, Hon. 
P. V. Lawson, Dr. C. D. Stanhope. J. G. Albright, W. H. Ellsworth, G. P. 
Stickner. H. A. Crosby, 0. J. Habheggar. L. R. Whitney, 0. L. Hollister. 
W. H. Elkey, C. A. Koubeck, H. E. Haferkorn, G. A. West, A. Gerend and 
C. E. Brown, others being represented by proxies. 

After thoroughly discussing the purposes of the meeting it was unani- 
mously resolved to organize the Wisconsin Archeological Societj'. 

Ccnununications from interested persons in various parts of the state 
advocating the advisability cf such an organization were read. 

The following temporary officers were elected, they together with Mr. 
George A West, to constitute an executive committee to undertake the 
drafting and filing of articles of incorporation and by-laws and to attend to 
transaction of necessary business. 

President, Mr. Henry A. Crosby. 

Secretarj', Mr. Charles E. Brown. 

Treasurer, Mr. Lee P. Whitney. 

It was decided that all persons enlisting in the new organization be- 
fore IMay 1, 1903, were to be admitted as charter members. 

Mr. C. E. Brown presented for consideration a copy of Wisconsin 
State Assembly Bill, No. 296, A., entitled: "A bill to provide for the 
survey and preservation of the Indian jMounds of the State of Wisconsin, 
and proAdding an appropriation therefor." 

He gave a history of the measure which was being introduced by 
Mrs. M. E. Wheeler of Milwaukee, a public spirited Wisconsin woman. 
The bill was then discussed and approved cf by those present and a com- 
munication endorsing its passage ordered to be sent to the chairman of the 
Assembly Committee on State Affairs. 

After the adjournment of the meeting those present were invited to 
partfike cf a banquet which Mr. George A. West had prepared for the 
occasion. 



PROCEEDINGS. 



MlLWAIKEE, Apkil 3, 1903. 

(XLIV Monthly Session.) Mr. Henry A. Crosby, acting president, 
called the meeting to order. There were twenty members present. 

The minutes of the preliminary meeting and of the several executive 
board and incorporators meetings were read by Acting Secretary Brown. 

The by-laws and articles of incorporation were also submitted. 

On motion of Mr. G. A. ^Yest, these, together with the several minutes 
read, were unanimously adopted. ,, ■, • .1 

The election of regular officers for the ensuing year resulted m tlie 
unanimous election of the following gentlemen: 

President, Mr. H. A. Crosby. 

First Vice-President, 3Ir. G. A. West. 

Second Vice-President, Mr. W. H. Ellsworth. 

Third Vice-President, ilr. Rolland L. Porter. 

Fourth Vice-President, :Mr. P. V. Lawson. 

Fifth Vice-President, Mr. H. P. Hamilton. 

Secretary, Mr. C. E. Brown. 

Treasurer, Mr. L. R. Whitney. 

A communication received from Mr. G. A. West donating to the 
Society a lar^e and valuable collection of Mexican and ether antiquities 
collected bv Dr. J. A. Rice of Merton, was read. 

On motion of ilr. L. R. Whitney a vote of thanks on behalf of the 
Sccietv was extended to Mr. West for his great generosity. 

Correspondence received from Rev. Stephen D. Peet, ]Mrs. EInora C. 
Folkmar, and Mrs. ^^'. Y. Wentworth and others was read and referred 
to the Executive Board. 

The Secretary stated that large accessions to the membership list had 
already been made. All of the former section members had joined. Messrs. 
W. H.Elkey and Geo. A. West had been particularly active and successful 
in securing new members, and their efforts were deserving of praise. 

The President spcke briefly of the progress of the work being carried 
on by the Records Committee, of which Mr. A. F. Laue is the acting 
chairman. 

Under the experienced direction of this gentleman the task of enlarging 
the county maps Avas advancing most favorably. 

He also stated that a request that this society be permitted to con- 
tinue the publicaticn of the "Wisconsin Archeologist," had been addressed 
to the Wisconsin Natural History Society. 

At the close of the session. Hon. James G. Pickett, of Pickett, who was 
present, exhibited an exceptionally fine collection of stone and copper 
implements, assembled by himself mainly from the fields, village sites and 
mounds of the towns of 'Utica and Xepeuskun in Winnebago county. 

Mr. Charles Koubeck also displayed an interesting collection of stone 
implements found in the town of ]\Iuskego in Waukesha county. 

MErMBERSHIP. 

It is the desire of the society to enlist the services ol competent workers and interested 
persons in all sections of the state, and we ask the assistance of our members in securing 
such applications. The necessary blanks may be had by addressing Mr. James G. Albright, 
Chairman of the Membership Committee. (531 Wells Building. Milwaukee), or the Secretary. 



40 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 
By PUBLIUS V. LAWSON, Ph. D. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Considered from the standpoint of the historian and archeolo- 
gist, Winnebago county is one of the richest and most interesting 
sections of the State of Wisconsin. 

It is located in the east central part of the state at a distance 
of 40 miles west of Lake Michigan and 80 miles north of Mil- 
waukee. 

It is bounded on the east by the western shore of Lake Win- 
nebago, on the south by Fond du Lac county, on the west by 
Green Lake and Waushara counties and on the north by Wau- 
paca and Outagamie Counties. 

It is a county of beautiful lakes and rivers, all of which are 
navigable. 

The historic Fox river traverses the entire length of the 
county from its northeast to near its southwest corner. 

In its course, it connects Little Lake Butte des Morts, Lake 
Winnebago and Big Lake Butte des Morts. 

The Wolf river, a stream of nearly equal size, enters the 
county at its northwestern corner, flows into Lakes Poygan and 
Winneconne and unites with the Fox near the center of the dis- 
trict. 

Rush lake, a large body of water, is situated in the south- 
western corner of the county. 

The country is high, rolling, rich tillable land once covered 
with oak openings and prairies and now thickly populated and 
utilized for agricultural and other purposes. 

These features, together with the extent of the swamps of 
wild rice and the abundance of fish and game and other natural 
productions of various kinds, have always made this district a 
favorite dwelling place of the aboriginal peoples of Wisconsin. 

The truth of this last statement is to be better appreciated 
when we consider the many thousands of aboriginal artifacts of 
clay, stone, copper, iron, shell and bone which have already been 
recovered from the village sites, mounds, burial grounds, shell 
heaps and fields distributed throughout the county. 

At the present time, a total of fully 30,000 of these are in- 
cluded in a dozen or more Winnebago county collections, and, if 
the author's estimate is correct, quite as many more or nearly dou- 
ble that number of specimens are included in public and private 




IN/IAF» OF=- WINNEBAC30 OOUNXY. WISOONSIN. 



LAWSON— Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 41 

cabinets throughout the state or have gone to enrich distant 
museums and cabinets. 

A considerable number of the specimens thus assembled are 
fashioned of materials foreign to the state and clearly indicate 
early and prolonged trade and war relations with the aboriginal 
peoples of Lake Superior, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio and more 
distant parts. 

The early history of this dictrict is included in nearly every 
important work on Wisconsin history. A recapitulation would 
require more space than the author has at his command. Such 
portions of it as are of especial interest to the archeologist are 
included herein with the descriptions of the various antiquities 
noted. Suffice it to say, that owing to the number and extent of 
its Indian villages and the fact of its location about one 
of the principal waterways of the west, affording direct connec- 
tions with the Mississippi river, this district early became and for 
many years continued to be of interest to the explorer, mission- 
ary and trader. 

At the time of the coming of the first whites, the county was 
occupied by the villages of the Winnebago, Fox and Menomonee 
Indians. 

In his "History of the Fox River Valley," Judge George 
Gary seeks to locate the famous Mascoutin village and St. James 
Mission near Eureka in the southwestern part of the county, 
but there is not the slightest historical evidence in proof of this 
contention. Indications are that that village was located near 
Princjeton in the adjoining county of Green Lake. 

Dr. Lapham is likewise in error when he quotes others to the 
effect that the country about Lake Winnebago was first inhabited 
by the Kickapoos, and that the Mascoutins were here at one time. 

His further statement, that the latter were driven away by the 
warlike Sauks and Foxes and these in turn by the Chippewas, 
aided by the French, is also incorrect. There is no historical 
proof or tradition that the Sac Indians were ever established here 
or that the Chippewas ever came to the county as warriors or 
otherwise. 

It was the Iroquois of New York who as allies of the French 
made the last fight with the Fox tribe in our county. 

In his "Catalogue of Prehistoric Works," Dr. Cyrus Thomas 
lists a "group of conical mounds, Sec. 17, T. 16, R. 14 E.," and 
"earthworks near Great Bend and at Crawfordsville" as being 
located in Winnebago county. This is a mistake. 

The former are located near Ceresco in Fond du Lac county, 
and the latter in Waukesha countv, Wisconsin. 



42 WISCONSIM ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 



The collection of data and notes in preparation for this small 
contribution to Wisconsin archeology was begun by the author 
some years ago. He is therefore personally familiar with the 
greater number of the evidences of pre-Columbian and early 
aboriginal occupation listed and described herein. 

Every effort has been made to have this summary as com- 
plete as possible in order that it might prove of value not only 
as a record, but also as a field directory for the student and in- 
vestigator. A very considerable number of the antiquities de- 
scribed have not previously been mentioned in works on Wiscon- 
sin archeology. 

It is to be hoped, that persons having in their possession any 
item, however brief or seemingly insignificant, relating to the 
antiquities of Winnebago County, will call the author's attention 
to the fact, in order that if necessary, a supplement to this manu- 
script may be published. 

The present arrangement of evidences under the heads of the 
towns in which they are located, the author believes to be the 
most convenient that can be devised, and worthy of adoption by 
others who are now contemplating or continuing similar re- 
searches in other districts of the state. 

The rapid rate at which Wisconsin mounds and other aborig- 
inal mementos are disappearing makes it highly desirable and im- 
portant that they should be accorded public protection and that 
studies similar in scope to that which is here presented should 
be undertaken and published by competent persons in every county 
in the state. 

By carefully collecting and embodying in permanent and 
readily accessible form the little odds and ends of local prehistory 
and ethnology in their respective districts, our brother members 
will confer a favor upon the students of the future and greatly 
assist in advancing the cause of Wisconsin archeology. 

This the author understands to be one of the ends which 
in the absence of state aid, the Wisconsin Archeological Society 
aims to accomplish. 

He especially desires to acknowledge the kind and valuable 
assistance which he has received from Hon. Tames G. Pickett, 
Hon. H. H. G. Bradt. Mr. George A. Randall, Mr. Charles 
Stever, Mr. Clarence Olen. Mr. F. R. Fowler, Mr. W. H. Foote 
and other gentlemen residing in the county, and to extend his 
sincere thanks to Mr. Charles E. Brown of Milwaukee for sug- 
gesting the present publication and for his kind services in col- 
lecting such data and references as were inaccessible to the writer. 

The description of Winnebago county artifacts has been 
left for a future publication. 



L\WSON — Surtimary of the ArcTieolopv of Winnebago County, Wifcons'n. +3 



THE SUMMARY. 



Town of Menasha. 

1. ]\Iexasha ^Mounds. — \Mien Dr. Increase A. Lapham vis- 
ited the young village (now city) of ]\[enasha in the year 1851, 
he found located there two mounds which he describes as follows : 

"In the village of ^Menasha is an elongated mound, quite 
high at the end towards the river, and terminating at a point at 
the other. A similar one exists on Doty's island, forming a sort 
of counterpart to the first. They are not exactly opposite, but are 
both directed towards the river." (Antiqviities of Wisconsin, 
pp. 61.) 

With the erection of buildings and the grading of streets, 
every trace of these mounds has long since disappeared. There 
are no persons now living in this vicinity who can tell of their 
exact location. 

2. Fourth Ward AIouxds. — These were first described by 
Dr. Lapham, (Antiquities of \A'isconsin, pp. 61) who says 
of them. " . . . Half a mile from ^Nlenasha is a group 
of eight mounds about four feet high and from forty to fifty feet 
in diameter. They are on the southeast quarter of section four- 
teen, township twenty, range seventeen, not far from the shore 
of Lake Winnebago. 

This ground has been se'ected for a cemetery by the present 
inhabitants, who do not scruple to dig up the Indian skeletons to 
make room for the bodies of a more civilized race. 

The ground here, as in numerous other places, exhibits 
marks of former culture in rows or beds, very diiTerent from that 
of the modern Indians. These are covered with a dense forest 
of young and thrifty trees, the largest not more, perhaps, than 
one hundred and fifty years old ; so that the whole have grown up 
since the time of ^Marquette, or within one hundred and eighty 
years." 

The tract of land occupied by these mounds, and formerly 
known as Little Prairie, has long since become a thickly settled 
residence portion of the city of JNIenasha. 

With the kind assistance of several of the pioneer residents 
I have been able to relocate four of the original group, as indi- 
cated on the accompanying plat. (Fig. i.) 

"A" was removed in 1859, in the building of Second street. 
It was 75 feet in diameter and 9 feet high at the center. It had 
been utilized by the early settlers as a burial place for their dead. 



I 



44 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. 



Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 



"B" is the only mound of the group which is still in exist- 
ence. At present it is 4 feet high and 66 feet in diameter. It 
was originally 8 feet in height. It is located in the garden of the 
A. Winz Brewery. 

"C" was 6 feet in height and 20 feet in diameter. 

"D" was 4 feet in height and 30 feet in diameter. 









LOT 
IS 


LOT 
16 


LOT 
17 






B 


LOG 


D 


*• 


A 






? 


NO 








ST. 



BLOCn 



27 



O 

B 

i-or 



LOT 

7 



All of these mounds were constructed of black vegetable 
mold and sandy topsoil. Of their contents I have been able to 
learn nothing. 

3. Fox River Trail. — The Fox river trail on the route from 
Green Bay to Fort Winnebago was, we have every reason to be- 
lieve, an ancient and well traveled pathway. It entered the county 
at the northwestern corner of the town of Menasha and paralleled 
the west shore of the Fox river as far as Caldwell's (now 
Strobey's) island, at the head of Little Butte des Morts lake, 
where it turned inland for half a mile to reach a fordable place 
over Mud creek. 

From thence it returned to the margin of the higher banks of 
the lake, winding southward along the sinuosities of the headlands 
and crossing the wide channels of the ancient creeks until it ar- 
rived at the site of the great tumulus, the "Hill of the Dead." 

From this historic spot it curved away from the lake to a 
gravel ridge or natural turnpike which it followed in a general 
southwesterly direction across the towns of Neenah and Vinland 
to the Big Butte des Morts ford, the site of Augustine Grignon's 
trading post, about i mile beyond the present village of Butte des 
Morts, in the town of Winneconne. 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 45 

Beyond this point the trail may still be traced into the woods 
for a I, GOO feet or more, since used as a bridle path and then for 
teams, and finally abandoned for the line highway. 

Leaving this place it crossed the Fox river to its east or right 
bank which it followed beyond the limits of the county to Portage, 
in Columbia county. 

South of the "Hill of the Dead," in the town of Menasha, the 
trail entered into a wide valley which it followed to the site of two 
cool crystal springs, known as "Blair's springs." At this point 
about 500 feet of the old trail is still visible. 

4. Sill's Creek Shell Heaps. — Evidences of the former 
existence of shell heaps are to be seen at the south side of the 
mouth of Sill's creek or Snail river where it empties into Little 
Butte des Morts lake near its lower end, in the northeast corner 
of section 3. The surface of the ground at this place is white 
with fragments and flakes of broken and decomposed clam shells 
over an area of three acres or more. The writer has collected from 
this site upwards of fifty finely chipped flint arrowpoints, several 
bone and horn awls and a considerable quantity of potsherds. The 
most of the latter are fabric marked and tempered with black 
quartz. Two socketted copper spearpoints, one of which has the 
surface of its blade ornamented with small regular indentations, 
have also been obtained. The prevailing style of pottery decora- 
tion is in the chevron or triangular patterns, impressed in dotted 
and continuous lines made with a pointed implement or with 
twisted cords. 

5. Little Butte des Morts, "The Hill of the Dead." — 
This historic monument was visited by Wisconsin's pioneer arche- 
ologist. Dr. Increase A. Lapham, on June 14, 1851, and is de- 
scribed and figured by him in his "Antiquities of Wisconsin" (pp. 
60-61, fig. 25). He says of it : 

"... The first one (mound) in ascending the river 
(Fox) being on the west side of Little Lake Butte des Morts, a 
name indicating the existence of the mound, and the purpose for 
which it was erected. 

"This tumulus is about eight feet high and fifty feet in diam- 
eter. It is to be hoped that a monument so conspicuous and so 
beautifully situated, may be forever preserved as a memento of 
the past. It is a picturesque and striking object in passing along 
this fine lake and may have been the cause of serious reflections 
and high resolves to many a passing savage. It is well calculated 
to affect not less the bosoms of more enlisfhtened men. There 



46 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. 



Vol. 2. Nos 2 and 3. 




LAWSOX— Summary of the Archeology ol Winuebago County, Wisconsin. 4.7 

is neither necessity nor excuse for its destruction ; and we cannot 
but again express the hope that it will be preserved for the benefit 
of all who may pass along that celebrated stream. 

The summit of the mound is about fifty feet above the lake, 
affording a very pleasing view embracing the lake and the en- 
trance to the north channel of the river. 

Among the articles discovered in the field nearby was some 
burnt clay in irregular fragments with impressions of the leaves 
and stems of grass, precisely like those found at Aztalan. 

This has been a place of burial, and, perhaps, of well con- 
tested battles ; for the plough constantly turns up fragments of 
human bones and teeth, much broken and decayed. Arrowpoints 
of flint, and pipes of red pipestone and other materials have also 
been brought to light." 

The tradition of the origin of the '"Hill of the Dead'^ is well 
known, having been included in nearly every important work on 
Wisconsin history. 

According to this tradition the tumulus was erected by the 
Indians as a repository for the bones of warriors and others who 
fell in a terrible battle which took place here at some period not 
definitely known, probably during the early part of the i8th cen- 
tury, during the long war of extermination waged against the Fox 
Indians by the French. The direct cause of the attack upon the 
village is said to have been due to a custom of the Fox Indians, of 
exacting tribute from all voyagers who passed this point. This 
levying of a tax on goods becoming a nuisance, on& Captain 
Perriere Morin or Morand received the permission of the au- 
thorities at Quebec to undertake the chastisement of the oiTenders. 
Repairing to Michilimackinac he proceeded to organize his ex- 
pedition, which is said to have consisted of a number of strongly 
built battleaux covered with canvas and manned by soldiers, boat- 
men and Indian allies. With this force he proceeded to Green 
Bay and thence down the Fox river to near the Indian village. 
Here he divided his forces, one detachment making a detour by 
land to the rear and the remainder continuing to the village in the 
boats, the soldiers being well secreted behind the canvas cover- 
ings. In response to the customary hail from the shore the steers- 
men turned their boats toward the land and at the proper moment, 
at a command from the supposed peaceable trader, Morin, the 
canvas coverings were raised by the soldiers and a deadly volley 
poured into the assembled horde of unsuspecting savages. In 
the meantime the detachment which had been sent to the rear of 
the village had set fire to the wigwams and cut off the means of 
retreat. The battle which ensued is said to have been a most 



48 WISCONSIN ARCHBOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

desperate one, thousands of warriors, women and children being 
slaughtered by the French and their allies. 

One of tile most notable events occurring at the "Hill of the 
Dead" was the great council of August 1827, at which several 
thousand Chippewas, Winnebagoes and Menomonees were assem- 
bled to meet Gen. Louis Cass and Col. Thomas L. McKinney, the 
United States commissioners, appointed for the purpose of ap- 
portioning the lands of the various tribes represented and fixing 
their proper boundaries. Chief John W. Quinne, an educated 
Stockbridge Indian, with Eleazer Williams, the "Lost Dauphin," 
were present as representatives of the New York Indians, who 
had been ceded, lands along the Fox river by the Menomonees. 
(Fig. 2.) 

There were also present at this treaty a command of U. S. 
regulars and volunteer troops who had halted enroute to the seat 
of the ''Winnebago war." It was during this council (on August 
7, 1827) that the young Indian Oiscoss or "Oskosh," as the name 
is spelled in the treaty, was formally selected by the commissioners 
and recognized as the head chief of the Menomonee Indians. 

It is greatly to be regretted that Dr. Increase A. Lapham's 
wishes so strongly expressed in regard to the preservation of this 
historic monument should not have been heeded. 

In the year 1863, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway 
constructed a pile bridge across Little Butte des Morts lake and 
made a deep cut through this point on the south side of and 
within 30 feet of the mound. Subsequently they excavated and 
removed the gravel at this place over an area of about five acres 
to a depth of about 20 feet, and with it regardless of tradition or 
history went the "Hill of the Dead." Thus it happened that the 
bones and implements of the aborigines entombed therein were 
strewn along the railway right-of-way for miles. 

After one-third of the mound had crumbled into the pit 
made by the busy pick and shovel, a large pocket of human bones 
was plainly exposed near its base. All about the outer surface, in 
shallow graves, were the remains of a great number of skeletons, 
possibly representing burials of a later date than those found at 
its base. As I can find no indication of an aboriginal cemetery in 
this vicinity that may be ascribed to the Fox Indians who re- 
sided from 1683 to 1728 within a mile of the mound, I have come 
to the conclusion that some of these latter interments were those 
of members of that tribe. 

I am informed, on good authority, that the early settlers and 
physicians often resorted to this mound for skeletons. 



LAWSON^-Summary of the Archeologry ofWinncbago County, Wisconsin. 



49 



The "Hill of the Dead" was probably never properly sur- 
veyed. According to Augustine Grignon, it was "some 6 or 8 
-rods in diameter and perhaps some 15 feet high." (3rd Ann. 
Rept-.," W^s. State Hist. Soc.) The author's measurements were 
obtained from Mr. C. V. Donaldson of Menasha and old residents 
of the neigliborhood who state that it was of an oval form having 
a long diameter of 60 feet and short diameter of 35 feet. The 
height corresponding with that given by Grignon and others. It 
was located a distance of 360 feet west of the lake shore and 300 
feet south of the east and west quarter quarter line of section 
16. (Fig. 3.) 





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3oe 


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7 






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JJig. 3. 

About Yi mile west of the "Hill of the Dead" there is another 
eminence, apparently artificial, M'hich has been referred to by Har- 
ney (Hist. Winnebago Co.) in connection with the foregoing 
as the "two hills of the dead." It is 9 feet in height and 100 feet 
in diameter and is built of boulders and gravel. It is now over- 
grown with trees and bushes. No attempt has as yet been made 
to investigate it. 

In the vicinity of this mound there are a number of stone 
circles each about 4 feet in diameter constructed of boulders about 
10 inches in thickness. The areas enclosed within these circles 
have become filled in with earth and many of the circles almost 
hidden beneath the accumulation. From the center of one has 
grown a great oak tree so that the stones now lie in a ring about 



50 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

its base. In a cornfield adjoining on the north the woodland in 
which these are located, there were formerly hundreds of such cir- 
cles which the thrifty husbandman has now cleared from the field. 

6. Village Site Stockade Embankment. — This stockade 
embankment of the Outcigamie (Fox) Indian village, of which 
a full description and history has been given by the author in the 
Proceedings of the Wisconsin State Historical Society for the year 
1900, is located on the farm of Mr. Henry Race, in the southeast 
quarter of section 8, one. mile northwest of the "Hill of the Dead" 
and three-quarters of a mile west of Little Butte des Morts lake. 

After being driven from Michigan, after their battle with the 
French and their Indian allies at Detroit in the year 1712, the 
remnant of the Fox Indians who took part in that raid, returned 
to their Wisconsin villages. 

On their return they endeavored to form an alliance with 
other Wisconsin tribes for the purpose of again harassing the 
French with the result that a war of extermination was ordered by 
the authorities in Quebec. 

In 1716, Sieur de Louvigny, in command of an army of 500 
French and 1,000 Iroquois came to Wisconsin for that purpose. 
In the meantime the Fox Indians had prepared for his coming by 
erecting a strong stockade consisting of a triple row of oak palis- 
ades with an outer ditch. From within this strongly fortified en- 
closure 500 warriors and 3,000 women for a period of three days 
successfully defended themselves against the French and their 
cannon. At the encFof this time propositions for peace were re- 
ceived and a treaty finally concluded between the opposing forces. 
The Foxes, however, failed to carry out their agreement under 
the treaty, and in 1728 Sieur de Lignery came to Wisconsin with 
a second expedition for the purpose of subduing them, but the In- 
dians being warned of his coming, only empty villages were 
found. These and the stockade were burned and destroyed by 
the French. The stockade embankment (Fig. 4), which is still 
to be seen, partially enclose about 7^' acres of land. The central 
portion is 700 feet in length and its two wings each 450 feet in 
length. It is 25 feet in width and now about 3 feet in height. 

On one wifig and corner are bastion-like extensions, the 
probable site of blockhouses. The'rear may have been otherwise 
defended. 

A low embankment 200 feet in length in a field a slight dist- 
ance to the west is supposed to indicate the position of the trenches 
built by the French in their attack on the oalisade. A descrip- 
tion of this stockade has also been oublished by the author in the 
Milwaukee Sentinel of Sept. 10, 1899. 



LAWSON — Sumtriary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 



51 



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Fig. 4. 



7. Great Serpent Mounds. — A plat and description of this 
group has been given by the author in the January, 1902, issue 
of the Wisconsin Archeologist (Vol. i, No. i, pp. 35-36). 

A description of one of the effigies has also appeared in the 
Oshkosh Northwestern of September 3, 1898. This group is lo- 
cated about one and a half miles west of Little Butte des Morts 
lake and about two and one-half miles northwest of the city of 
Neenah. It is only about 500 feet northwest of the remains of the 
old Fox stockade embankment just described. 

The following is an extract from my description of these 
effigies : 

"The country about is old farming land. One of the mounds 
has never been disturbed, while the other one has been plowed 
over in parts and largely removed with scrapers. The two reptiles 
are apparently rushing toward each other. Between their heads 
runs a very small creek four feet wide and dry in summer, but 
which in 1728 was large enough a half mile below to admit sev- 
eral hundred canoes bearing the French and Iroquois army which 
came to assault the Fox Indian village nearby. 

West of the mounds the land sinks into a basin, so that 



52 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 



they seem to lie along the edge of the sharp depression of about 
3 feet to the basin. They are constructed of red clay similar to 
the surrounding subsoil, and with a few inches of vegetable mold 
on one and much more on the other. At the bottom of the slope 
along which they lie, there is an artificial ditch extending their 
whole length (except at certain points in the one which has been 
plowed over) which is now from 3 inches to 2 feet in depth. It is 
deepest at the head and gradually grows less deep toward the ex- 
tremities where it disappears with the tails of the mounds. 

The stumps on the mounds are numerous and some of them 
three feet through, showing ages from forty to one hundred and 
fifty years. 

The heads of the reptiles are not distinctly outlined, but are 
flat as if mashed. In the jaws of one there is a four foot elm 
-Stump. 

One of the mounds is a prominent feature of the landscape, as 
"it can be seen from quite a distance. Its peculiar serpentine shape 
is very striking. 

The length of mound A is 1,210 feet, and of the other, mound 
B, 1,580 feet, making for both of them a total length of 2,790 feet, 
or over half a mile. 

A drawing of these immense leviathans, lying full length 
upon the ground, made on a scale of one hundred feet to the 
inch, cannot convey to the mind any idea of the numerous coils 
and curves which make up the mounds. One great loop runs out 
twenty-five feet and returns within a lew feet of its starting point. 
Prom the neck, the mounds grow gradually higher and broader 
toward the middle of the effigies, then as gradually, and gracefully 
grow smaller and smaller until they disappear into the surround- 
ing soil. The smaller one ends among a lot of stumps, and the 
larger one up in the top soil of rock outcrop of Trenton lime- 
stone. 

The lands across which the mounds lie are divided into half 
a dozen fields with as many owners." 

8. Kame Burials. — At various places in the southern por- 
tion of this town and in the town of Neenah on the Blair, Jenni- 
john, Moulton, Hankey and other farms gravel pit interments are 
frequently disturbed in taking out the material for road work. 
These graves are usually at a depth of but a few feet beneath the 
surface. They are generally about 2 feet wide and deep and 6 
feet long. The bones lie in a horizontal position, the direction 
varying greatly. 



LA.WSOX — SuTnmary of the Archeology of Winnebapo County. Wisconsin. 53 

From a pit near the "Hill of the Dead" the author obtained, 
in 1882, a dozen sherds of shell-tempered earthenware, several 
fragments of carved bone and a number of bone awls. During 
the summer of 1902 a number of human bones and a copper spear- 
point found with them were taken from a pit on the Blair prop- 
erty by workmen. The gravel ridge in which these interments 
occur extends from this point across portions of the towns of 
Neenah, Vinland and Winneconne to Big Butte des Morts lake. 

On the farm of Mr. W. Weaver in the southwest quarter of 
section 17, near a stone quarry, human bones and a considerable 
number of stone implements have been found at different times. 

Doty Island. 

9. Doty Island Village Site. — This island takes its name 
from James Duane Doty, whose residence place it was and who 
served as governor of Wisconsin territory during the years of 
1841 to 1844. 

The island itself is formed by the division of the Fox river 
where it leaves Lake Winnebago and is about i]^ miles in length, 
% of a mile in width and about 700 acres in extent. It was in 
early days overgrown with great oaks and noble elms and is now 
occupied by the fine residences, thoroughfares and gardens of the 
twin cities of Neenah and Menasha. It is upon this picturesque 
island that the principal village of the powerful Winnebago tribe, 
so intimately associated with the early history of the state, was. 
located from as far back as the year 1634 to 1830, the date of 
the death of Four Legs, the last of its great warlike chiefs. Cut- 
ting Marsh reports the village as being occupied up to as late as 
1832, making nearly two hundred years of almost continuous 
occupation by this tribe. When first this people were reported io 
Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, at Quebec, in 
the year 1632, he believed from the fanciful description given him 
by his Indian visitors, that the inhabitants were Chinese and that 
he had at last found the long-sought clue to the route to the Celes- 
tial empire. In 1634, he dispatched Jean Nicolet as his ambassa- 
dor to this strange far-away people. The story of the coming of 
this first white man to Wisconsin is told in nearly every work 
treating of Wisconsin's early history. 

The following is the account of his arrival as given by Mr. 
Henry E. Legler in his interesting volume entitled, "Leading- 
Events of Wisconsin History" (Milwaukee, 1898) : 

"At last Nicolet was on Wisconsin soil. He believed himself 
to be on the threshold of China. The Menomonees, who made 



S4 WISCONSIN ARCHELOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

their habitation here, were of a lighter complexion than the In- 
dians Nicolet knew. Some writers have ascribed this circum- 
stance to the use of wild rice by these Indians as a staple article of 
diet. Champlain's messenger learned that but a short journey 
would bring him to the land of the Winnebagoes. He sent one 
of his Hurons to appraise the supposed celestials of his coming 
and prepared to meet them in becoming style. For this purpose 
he had brought a robe of gorgeous hue, like unto Joseph's in its 
resplendent coloring. The early French narrative known as the 
Vimont Relation, describes how Nicolet's mandarin dress was 
besprinkled with birds of bright plumage and flowers of many 
hues, in woven work. 

If Nicolet erred in his conception of the Winnebagoes, this 
tribe of red men likewise formed erroneous notions concerning 
their visitor. They believed him a manitou or spirit, an impres- 
sion that was accentuated when he advanced into their midst with 
a pistol in each hand, the contents of which he discharged in the 
air with great dramatic effect. He was much disappointed to 
learn, however, that the "People of the Sea," in quest of whom 
he had undertaken his long and arduous canoe voyage, wore 
moccasins and other savage apparel in place of the product of the 
loom. With true French adaptability he made the best of the 
situation and proceeded to win to the French interests these nations 
of the West. He urged them to come to Montreal for barter, 
and not to engage in war with nations friendly to the French. 

The coming of this man caused a great gathering of Indians. 
One account estimates the number of people who came to greet 
him at 5,000, but later accounts considerably reduced this un- 
doubted exaggeration. The Relation heretofore quoted mentions 
that a great feast was held. Judging from the quantity of pro- 
visions consumed, the number of warriors must have been large 
and their appetites considerably sharpened. There were consumed, 
if the account of the feast is true, more than one hundred beavers, 
besides many deer and other forest viands secured by the chase." 

10. Stockade Embankment. — Situated partly upon the 
property of Mr. L. Pinkerton and Mr. Striddie at a distance of 
47 rods east of Ninth street in Neenah and directly in line with a 
series of effigy mounds, are located the remains of the earthern 
embankment at one time supporting the walls of the Winnebago 
stockade or fort which was destroyed in 1728 by the French and 
Iroquois expedition which also destroyed the Fox Indian stockade 
on the mainland as already described. (Fig. 5.) 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago Cotiiity, Wisconsin. 5?, 



I I /^£A/AJ/^A 



J PARK 



/V£S/VAH 



6. WebsferLat^ 



.: Is! 



£IVB/IN/rf1CUr,.: 




Fig. 5. 

While the villager.s returned and continued to inhabit the 
island it does not appear that the stockade was rebuilt. The po- 
sition and shape of the embankment enclosure is best to be seen 
in the cut. As it was not possible to enclose the entire popu- 
lation of the island within the stockade, it is supposed that it 
was only occupied in time of war, when the women and children 
were probably removed to a distance for safety. The peculiarity 
of the double enclosure indicates that one is simply the result of 
the enlarging of an earlier and smaller stockade. 

There are enclosed at present within the embankment of the 
stockade about three quarter acres of land. The northern side of 
the enclosure is 200 feet, the southern side 300 feet in length and 
its extreme width about t6o feet. The embankment is from 18 
inches to 3 feet in height. 

II. Doty Island Cornfields. — The cornfields of this vil- 
lage are still to be seen at the eastern end of the island on the 
property of Mr. G. C. Jones and along the Neenah Fox river. 
They consist of long regular drills or ridges covering several acres 
of ground, each row being from 3 to 6 inches in height, about 3 
feet in width and from 4 to 6 feet apart from center to center. 



56 WiSCOMSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2. Nos. 2 and 3. 

These cornhills are mentioned by Dr. Increase A. Lapham. 
(Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 6i, April, 1855). He states 
that : "The eastern extremity of Doty's island has long been oc- 
cupied by Indians, as is evidenced by the regular cornhills cover- 
ing nearly the whole surface as well as by a new feature, not 
before observed, or supposed to be within the pale of Indian cus- 
toms. The ground was originally covered with loose stones, frag- 
ments of the solid limestone rock that exists everywhere not far 
beneath the surface. These stones had been carefully collected 
into little heaps and ridges to make room for the culture of the 
native crop. The stone heaps are six or eight feet in diameter 
and from one to two feet in height. The interstices are now 
filled with soil and partially covered with grass and weeds." 

These stone heaps are still to be seen at this place. I have 
briefly described them in the October, 1902, issue of the Wiscon- 
sin Archeologist (Vol. 2, No. i, pp. 30). 

At the water's edge several hundred feet southeast of the old 
Doty homestead there is a black trap boulder having on its top 
several highly polished basin-shaped depressions which are said 
to have been employed by the Indians in grinding their corn. This 
boulder is somewhat oval in form, 6 feet in length, 3 feet in height 
and 3 feet in thickness. 

12. Doty Mounds. — These mounds are located on a terrace 
which circles the eastern end of the island and marks the ancient 
flood plane of Winnebago lake and the Fox river. This ter- 
race is elevated about 15 feet above the level of the lake. (Fig. 5.) 
The group consists of a string of effigy, oval and round mounds 
beginning near the middle of the eastern end of the island and ex- 
tending from thence in a general southwesterly direction across 
the Winnebago village site for a half mile or more to near the 
shore of the Neenah Fox river at its southern margin. 

Four of the most northern of these mounds are permanently 
preserved in Elisha D. Smith Park at the southern limits of the 
city of Menasha. 

The first of these. No. i, is of the type referred to by Dr. In- 
crease A. Lapham as "lizard" mounds. It is 217 feet in length. 
The body is 40 feet in length, 30 feet in width and 26 inches in 
height. The tail is 177 feet in length and 15 feet in width where 
it connects with the body. Upon the body there is a towering 
white oak tree 2 feet in diameter. 

Mound No. 2 is of the same form and is 125^ feet in length. 
Its body measures 45 feet in length and 31^ feet in width and 
the tail is 80^ feet in length. Growing upon the body and tail 



LAW SON— Sum HI afy of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 57 

of this mound are several white oak trees measuring from 33 to 
35 inches in diameter. 

No. 3, the third "lizard" mound, has a total length of 200 feet 
and is 21 inches in height at its highest part. It has a 27 inch 
white oak tree growing upon its body. 

No. 4, also of this class of mounds, has been nearly obliterated 
by the grading of Park street, forming the eastern boundary of 
the park. It was originally about seventy feet in length. 

No. 5 is a mound approaching in shape the so-called "turtle" 
mounds. It is without the usual caudal appendage. It is 37 feet 
in length and 30 feet across the body at the limbs on either side. 

The height of this mound is now only about 14 inches. On 
its head there grows an oak tree having a diameter of 30 inches. 

Every precaution is being taken to carefully care for these 
fine mounds in order that they may serve as object lessons to 
the public and students of the future. 

The attention of the visitor is directed to the character of 
these ancient works by neat boards signs, placed near each, bearing 
the legend, "This is a' Lizard Mound;" "This is a Turtle Mound." 

About 600 feet south of these on the G. Webster lot there 
are two "lizard" mounds. They are separated from one an- 
other by a distance of 20 feet. 

Mound No. 6 is 233 feet in length and now about 12 inches in 
height and mound No. 7 is 137 feet in length and now about 16 
inches in height. No. 6 whose head extends over the property 
line into a neighboring field, the William Stridde property, has 
been under cultivation, but its outlines can still be made out. 
Mound No. 8 of a similar shape was located in an orchard on an 
adjoining property, about 20 feet east of the foregoing. It has 
been obliterated by the growing of a row of apple trees. 

Mound No. 9 is directly south of these on the Wm. Striddie 
lot. 

Over fifty loads of black earth have been removed from it 
and it has been cultivated for several years. At its highest part 
it is still 30 inches in height. 

It is of course impossible to determine what was its former 
outline. Its extreme length is now about 112 feet and its ex- 
treme width about 42 feet. No attempt to ascertain its contents 
has ever been made. 

Some distance to the east of these mounds on the lower land 
near the lake there existed about twenty years ago, in the native 
woods, another mound of the "lizard" form. (No. 10). 

Its head lay in a southwesterly direction and it was at least 
150 feet in length and about 3 feet in height. 



58 WISCONSIN ARCHBOLOGIST. Vol. 2, No«. 2 and 3. 

It was entirely removed in grading the running track for the 
Island Driving Park which is located here. 

Near Ninth street, in the city of Neenah, on the L. J. Pinker- 
ton property, is a round mound (No. ii) which is now 70 feet in 
diameter and 2 feet in height. 

Upon the premises of Roberts' summer hotel, the old home- 
stead of Governor James D. Doty, there are a number of mounds. 

The first of these (No. 12) is a round mound located near 
the entrance gate and driveway. It is now 45 feet in diameter 
and 2 feet in height. There are indications that this may have 
been an effigy mound. 

Across the driveway from the above there are indications of 
the former location of a similar mound. (No. 13.) But a short 
distance southeast of these in a grass-lot there are to be seen 
the remains of a mound, probably of an effigy. (No. 14.) 

Its extreme length is 70 feet and its extreme width 60 feet. 
It is now about 30 inches in height. 

South of this one and immediately to the west of the old 
Doty homestead, is a round mound (No. 15), which is 20 feet 
in diameter, and 2 feet in height. 

To the west of this last there are the remains of what may 
have been a "bird" effigy. (No. 16.) 

It has been under cultivation for years and its outline is 
no longer very distinct. Upon it there is an oak stump 21 
inches in diameter. 

The remains of another effigy mound (No. 17) are to be seen 
to the west of the last near Fifth street. It now measures 48 feet 
in length, 15 feet in width and 18 inches in height. 

Upon it there is an oak stump 14 inches in diameter. 

All of these mounds appear to have been constructed from 
material obtained near at hand. 

Town of Neenah. 

13. Treaty Elm. — For many years one of the most interest- 
ing land marks in the county was the "Treaty Elm" or "Coun- 
cil Tree" beneath whose wide spreading branches the chiefs of the 
neighboring tribes are said to have been wont to gather in council. 
It was located on Riverside Park point at the mouth of the Neenah 
-Fox river in the City of Neenah. It Avas of immense size and 
girth and towered above all the surrounding forest and could be 
seen from points from 5 to 8 miles distant. Such was its promin- 
ence as a land mark that it was for many years used as a guide 
by sailors and steamer pilots on the lake. In 1890 in widening 



LAWSON — Sutninary of the Archeology of W'innebagro County, Wisconsin. 59 

the river, both the tree and point were cut away. It was from 
beneath this monarch of the forest that Four Legs, a \\^innebago 
chief, undertook, in 1815, as had the Fox Indians a century pre- 
vious, to halt all boatmen and exact tribute. To a convoy of U. 
S. soldiers under Gen. Leavenworth making up the rapids on their 
way to the Mississippi he made his historic remark that, "the 
lake was locked." At this the General is said to have raised his 
rifle with the reply, "But I have the key." 

To this the prudent old chief quickly replied, "Then you 
may pass through." 

14. Manser's Bay Cemetery. — On the farm of Mr. G. 
H. Manser on the shore of Manser's bay, Lake Winnebago, in the 
northeast quarter of section 9, there are indications of a rather 
extensive aboriginal bur3nng place. 

The graves are scattered over an area of ten acres along 
the shore of the lake. 

In excavating at this point in October, 1898, Air. Harold 
Lawson and others succeeded in uncovering eleven skeletons, 
an entire pottery vessel and fragments of several others, some 
carved clam shells, bone awls and a number of flint arrow points. 

The perfect vessel and the half of another were described 
and figured by the author in the July, 1902, issue of the Wiscon- 
sin Archeologist. (Vol. i. No. 4, pp. 97). 

The former is well fashioned of a dark colored clay, shell 
tempered, and is decorated about the shoulder and neck with a 
pattern consisting of incised lines and indentations. 

The dimensions of this vessel are : height 4^ inches ; diam- 
eter at the top 4 inches ; at the shoulder 6 inches ; thickness 3-16 
of an inch. The fragmentarj^ vessel is of similar material and 
is ornamented about the neck with a single row of indentations. 
Its original dimensions I estimate to have been as follows : height 
9 inches, diameter at the top 8 inches : at the shoulder. 10 inches. 

These vessels are the present property of Messrs. Harold and 
Percy Lawson of JNIenasha. 

Town of Vinland. 

15. Allenville Cornfield. — On the authority of others 
I have recorded the existence of an aboriginal cornfield in section 
6, about I mile north of Allenville, and of the existence of a sim- 
ilar evidence of cultivation at the head of a creek about ^ mile 
south of the center the northern boundary of this town. 

16. Paine's Point Mound. — In a communication addressed 
to Mr. Charles E. Brown, dated INIarch 26, 1903. Air. George 



60 WISCONSIN ARGHKOLOGIST. Vol. 2. Nos. 2 and 3. 

H. Randall, city engineer of the City of Oshkosh, makes mention 
of a mound formerly situated at Paine's point, 3 miles south of 
the City of Neenah, near the shore of Lake Winnebago. 

Town of Oshkosh. 

17. Island Park Village Site. — On Island Park, in Lake 
Winnebago, now one of the most delightful summer retreats along 
the lake shore, was formerly located the Winnebago village of that 
redoubtable Indian warrior, "Pe-Sheu" or the Wild Cat, whose 
war whoop was heard on many historic battlefields. 

The early name of the island and village, ''Pe-Sheu's village," 
was derived from this source. 

For some years prior to 181 3 and down to rather late times it 
also bore the name of Garlic island. Just when this village was es- 
tablished here cannot be exactly ascertained, yet it is highly prob- 
able that Pe-Sheu himself was its founder and that he and his 
tribesmen came from the principal Winnebago village on Doty's 
island. 

One of the earliest descriptions of this Island Park village 
is that of Mrs. (Governor) James D. Doty, who records in her 
journal, under the date of August, 1823, of a canoe journey which 
she made with her husband on the way up river to hold court at 
Prairie du Chien. 

She says : "We coasted along the west shore of Lake Win- 
nebago to Garlic island, on the opposite point to which is a Win- 
nebago village of fine permanent lodges, and fine cornfields." 

The late Judge Morgan L. Martin, then a young attorney 
new in the western country, made the same journey in birch bark 
canoes with Judge Doty and others in 1828 on their way to try 
Red Bird, the Winnebago, for murder. 

In his account of his voyage he says : "Garlic Island was 
the next stopping place. There was a Winnebago village there 
of about the same size as that over which Four Legs (Doty Is^ 
land) presided, (150 to 200 lodges covered with bark and mats). 
The lodges, however, were longer and neater. We purchased 
supplies of vegetables of the island villagers." 

From these descriptions it would appear that the village oc- 
cupied both the island and mainland ; that the wigwams were well 
constructed, the fields of Indian maize of considerable extent, and 
the population at that time one of 1000 or more persons. 

Chief Wild Cat was a large and bulky savage with a hasty 
and ferocious temper which often got him into difficulties. We 
suppose that he was born at Doty's island at some time just pre- 
vious to the American Revolution. 



LAWSON — Smnraary of the Archeoloey of Winnebaeo County, Wisconsin. 61 

The earliest knowledge which we have of this chieftain is from 
a remark he once made when he and Sarcel, a Winnebago chief, 
had a dispute in regard to their relative bravery. 

On this occasion Wild Cat is said to have exclaimed : ''Don't 
you remember the time we aided the Shawanoes (English) in at- 
tacking the fort, that you ran off so fast that you lost your 
breech clout." This remark had reference to the Indian war of 
1793, when the British had incited the western Indians to frequent 
depredations against the straggling white settlers in Ohio and 
other western territories. There is a possibility also that he may 
haye served with Chaxles. de Langlade under the British. flag in., 
the war of the Revolution. 

Certain it is that in 1797 he was considered of sufBcient im- 
portance to receive from the royal officers the medal of their 
King. This bronze medal, given as a memento of distinguished 
favor by King George III to his savage ally in his wild wood 
home on the shore of Lake Winnebago, now reposes in the mu- 
seum of Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis. It was deposited 
there about the year 1875 by Mr. D. C. Church of Vinland, who 
obtained it from Louis B. Porlier of Butte des Morts, a trader 
and son of Judge Porlier and son-in-law of Augustine Grignon. 
(Consult Harney. Hist. Win. Co., pp. 271.) 

18. Island Park Mound. — At the southern extremity of 
the island there is a cairn or mound built of stones. It is now 
30 inches in height and 15 feet in diameter and is overgrown with 
grass and shrubbery. The gradual encroachment of the waters 
of the lake have already caused a great part of it to crumble 
down the bank. 

19. Winnebago P. O. Mounds. — In the collection of Mr. 
H. E. Knapp of Menomonee there is a pottery vessel which was 
obtained by his brother-in-law, Mr. David Thomas of Ripon, 
from some workmen, who were levelling some mounds during 
the process of road making, at a place about i^ miles north of 
the Northern Hospital for the Insane. Several broken vessels 
were also removed from these mounds. 

The Knapp pot is about 4^ inches in diameter and 3^ inches 
in height. The author has been unable to secure any further in- 
formation in regard to these mounds. 

20. Asylum Bay Graves. — In the cabinet of Mr. H. P. 
Hamilton of Two Rivers are two pottery vessels which were 
taken from one of these graves which were located on the shore 



62 WISCONSIN ARCHROLOGI«T. ■ ,; / Vol 2. Nos. 2 and 3. 

of Lake Winnebago, about three miles north of the City of Osh- 
kosh. 

A description and figure of one of these vessels was con- 
tributed by the author to the July, 1902, issue of the Wisconsin 
Archeolog'ist. (Vol. i. No. 4, pp. 98, Fig. 5). 

It is as follows : 

One, a small bowl, is entire. Dimensions : Height, 2^ inches ; 
diameter at the widest part, 4>^ inches; weight, 4^^ ounces. It 
is devoid of ornamentation. When unearthed it contained the 
valve of a large clam shell. The other vessel is of a fragmen- 
tary nature but includes the entire rim and a considerable portion 
of the body. It was larger than the foregoing and is ornament- 
ed on that portion of the body which remains with small circular 
indentations and short oblong incised lines. Both pots are of a 
reddish color, much blackened by fire. The tempering material 
is shell. 

21. Sunset Point Cemetery. — According to Hon. James 
G. Pickett there was an aboriginal cemetery located at Sunset 
point on the north shore, at the lower end of Big Lake Butte 
des Morts. A large quantity of human bones in a fair state of 
preservation have been disinterred at this place at different times 
by the plow and scraper. Most of the graves were not deeper 
than i^ to 2 feet below the surface. So far as can be learned 
only iron implements have been found. 

22. Plummer's Point Mound. — On the property of Mr. 
Levi Plummer at a place called Plummer's Point, in the south- 
east quarter of section 30, there is a round mound about 25 feet 
in diameter and now about 30 inches in height. 

It is located in a wood about 80 rods east and elevated about 
25 feet above the north shore of the Fox river. 

City of Oshkosh, 

23. Oshkosh Mound. — In former years before the waters 
of Lake Winnebago had eroded away the land upon which it 
was constructed, there was situated in the east side of the City 
of Oshkosh at an equal distance between Washington and Merritt 
streets, a round mound measuring 8 feet in height and about 20 
feet in diameter. It was located upon the sloping bank at a height 
of from I to 3 feet above the level of the water. It stood close 
to the shore in 1865 and had nearly disappeared by 1875. There 
is no trace of it remaining at the present time. 

I am unable to learn of its ever having been investigated. 



LAWSON— Summary ol the Archeology of Winnebago County, "Wisconsin. 



To Mr. James Nevitt of Oshkosh, I am indebted for my in- 
formation concerning this mound, which is said to have been the 
only one in the city. 

24. Otter Street Gr-\ves. — These are mentioned by Mr. 
George H. Randall, city engineer of Oshkosh, in a communication 
dated ^larch 26, 1903', and directed to Mr. Charles E. Brown. 
They have been long obliterated and no further information is 
now obtainable. 

Town of Algoma. 

25. Stony Beach :\Iounds. — Hon. James G. Pickett re- 
members to have seen, many years ago, some round mounds on 
the farm of Mr. William Wright, at the place now known as 
Stony Beach, in section 36, about i mile south of the City of 
Oshkosh. They have long since disappeared. I am unable to 
procure any further particulars in regard to this group. 

26. Oakwood ^Igunds.— This at one time fine group of 
effigy and other mounds is located on fractional lot 8, at the de- 
Hghtful summer resort called Oakwood, on the south shore of 
Big Butte des Morts lake. (Fig. 6.) 

There are nine mounds in this group, which is situated on 
the top and quite close to the edge of the bank, which is ele- 
vated from 14 to 16 feet above the waters of the lake. _ 

Formerlv they may have been further inland and in time may 
be destroved by the crumbling of the bank, unless sooner destroy- 
ed bv the' requirements or disregard of the residents. 

At present the tail of one effigy is on the edge of the bank 
and the wing of another is held down by the corner of a house ; 
and all have been sadly defaced by the constant tread of careless 

feet. 

The three effigies nearest the bank are mounds of the so-called 
"panther or lizard'"' type. The largest of these is 134 feet in 
length and the smallest 92 feet in length. Directly in the rear 
of this last is a crescent-shaped mound. Opposite the last three 
of these and separated from them by onh' a few feet are three 
"bird" mounds of a peculiar type. 

They differ from other bird mounds in having a short head, 
no neck and a short and wide body. The largest of these is 36 feet 
in length and measures 75 feet across the spread of the wings. 

They are headed in much the same general direction as the 
other effigies and the leading bird appears as if attempting to 
head off' the second panther. 




OAKWOOD MOUNDS. 

Fig. 6. 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, "Wisconsin. 65 

But a short distance in advance of the leading- effigy there 
is an oval double enclosure having a long axis of 99 and a short 
axis of 63 feet. 

The outer wall is ten feet m width and now about i foot in 
height. 

The inner enclosure is 45 feet in length and is separated from 
the outer wall by a distance of about 10 feet. 

At the rear of this procession of effigies there is an oval en- 
closure having a long axis of 102 feet and a short axis of 30 feet. 
The wall is 10 feet in width and now about i foot in height. 

There was in former years an aboriginal cornfield near this 
place. 

2.J. Hammer Mounds. — The author is indebted to Hon. 
James G. Pickett for information concerning these mounds which 
are located on a tract known as the James Hammer place in sec- 
tion 7, in the town of Algoma. 

They are about 2 miles west of Oakwood and about one 
mile south of Big Lake Butte des Morts. The group consists 
of four round mounds, now under cultivation, and each about 
30 feet in diameter and 2 feet in height. 

There was an aboriginal cemetery on the same tract. 

Town of Black Wolf. 

28. Randall's Point Kitchens.- — At La Belle or Ran- 
dall's point on the west shore of Lake Winnebago, in fractional 
section 16, on land now owned by Mr. E. H. Farnly, there are still 
to be seen several circular excavations which were employed as 
kitchens or dining pits by the aborigines located there. 

Acording to Mr. George A. Randall, who was born at this 
place and formerly owned the property, two of these pits are 
located on the top of a bank elevated about 15 feet above the 
water. 

They are about 20 feet apart and so close to the shore that 
they have escaped obliteration through cultivation. 

These excavations were originally 7 or 8 feet in diameter and 
3 feet in depth at the center, with sloping- sides. 

It was related to Mr. Randall by his mother and his uncle, 
Mr. E. M. Harney, the author of the "History of Winnebago 
County," that these pits were "eating holes" and used in the 
following manner: 

The kettle of whole fish, birds, meat and corn was boiled 
at a nearby fire, then brought into the pit and hung upon a 
cross-piece supported at either end by a forked upright. 



66 WISCONSIN ARCMEOLOeiST. .Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

The Indians, old and young, then seated themselves in the 
pit and each in turn fished out with his fingers his portion of 
the dinner. 

Fish bones and other remains of these dinners are still to be 
found in the pits. 

29. Randall's Point Cornfields. — According to Mr. G. 
A. Randall there were in former years many acres of Indian 
cornhills at this place. 

In fact the whole shore line of the town of Black Wolf for a 
distance of seven miles south of this place formerly exhibited 
abundant traces of such cultivation. 

30. Black Wolf Point Village Site. — On a point of 
land now known as Black Wolf point (Sec. 21), jutting out 
into Lake Winnebago at a distance of seven miles south of the 
city of Oshkosh, there was formerly located a Winnebago Indian 
village over which Black Wolf, a Winnebago war chief, presided. 
This village was not a large one, as it is said to have numbered 
not more than forty huts. The date of its establishment here is 
not exactly known, but it is supposed to have been about the 
year 1800 or slightly before. 

Mrs. G. A. Randall, who formerly resided at Randall's 
point, remembers to have seen the Indian tepees and campfires 
along the shore of Black Wolf point as late as the year 1846. 

Chief Black Wolf himself, whose Indian name was "Shounk 
Tohunk Slop," was a character of some importance. He was 
a large man and much respected by his people. 

In the attacks on Mackinac in the war of 181 2, he fought 
vmder the leadership of Col. Robert Dickson, the British agent. 

After the war, the British still seeking to hold the Winne- 
bagoes in their interest for purposes or trade, called them to 
Mackinac to a council or treaty with Col. Robert McDonald, the 
British commissioner. Black Wolf was one of those in attend- 
ance at this gathering. 

He also participated with the British and their allies in the 
capture of Prairie du Chien in the year 18 14. He. was one of 
the signers of the land grant negotiated by Eleazer Williams in 
1 82 1, with Four Legs, the W^innebago head chief, and others, by 
which the New York Indians were to receive a strip of land five 
miles in width along the Lower Fox, "from Grand Kackalin 
Rapids to Winnebago Rapids" in Winnebago county. 

He also participated in the councils held at Green Bay and 
Doty Island, for a similar purpose, in 1830. He is said to have 
died at Portage, Wis., in the year 1847. 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 67 

Augustin Grignon, in his "Recollections," makes the follow- 
ing statement : "My half-brother, Perrish Grignon, informed 
me, that he had seen many years ago, in a crevice or cavity in the 
rocky shore of Lake Winnebago, some six or eight miles south of 
Oshkosh, near the old Indian village of Black Wolf, a large num- 
ber of skuJls and human remains." 

These Mr. Grignon judges to be those of some of the wound- 
ed and dying Fox Indians who were buried here by their brothers 
fleeing from Little Butte des Morts. (Seventy-two years Recol- 
lections of Wis. — 3rd Ann. Rept. Wis. Hist. Soc.) In plowing 
on the mainland at the base of the point, stone and iron imple- 
ments have been found. 

31. Long Point Bay Cornfield. — On the shore of Long 
Point bay, Lake Winnebago, about 500 feet inland, in the south- 
eastern corner of this town, indications of an aboriginal cornfield 
probably belonging to the before mentioned village, are still to 
be seen. (S. E. ^ of Sec. 33.) The cornhills are about 5 acres 
in extent. 

Grooved stone axes, celts, arrow and spear points, have been 
gathered from the neighboring fields. Indications of an Indian 
burial pilace have also been found here. 

32. Manitou Rock. — This huge granite boulder, the largest 
glacial rock in the county, is located on the property of Mr. 
Ado'lph Freiberg (Section 33) at the water's edge on the shore 
of Long Point bay. It is a prominent landmark in a district 
where there are no other large boulders, and is the subject of an 
interesting tradition or legend. It is rather angular in shape 
and measures 8 feet across the top. It stands 5 feet above the 
ground and extends at least as many feet below the surf-^ce. 

On its top are two seemingly artificially excavated basins cr 
depressions, each about 3 inches in depth and highly polished, 
which were probably used as "corn-mills" by the aborigines of the 
neighborhood. 

Town of Nekimi. 

33. Davis Mound. — This mound is located on the fanPi of 
the Alvin Davis estate in the northwest quarter of the northwest 
quarter of section 30. 

It is in the rear and about 50 feet distant from the Davis 
dwelling and is about 12 feet in diameter and 2 feet in height. 

The owners of the property will not permit it to be dis- 
turbed. 



68 "WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

Across the highway on E. Bean's farm in the town of Utica, 
are a number of mounds which I have described under that town. 
All are reported by Mr. Pickett. 

Town of Winchestei*. 

34. Richter's Landing Shell Heaps. — On the property 
of Mr. Chas. Richter in the east half of section 31, about one mile 
east of Richter's landing on Boom bay, there are according to the 
statement of Mr. Clarence Olen of Oshkosh, a number of large 
shell heaps and indications of an aboriginal burying ground 

Some of the shell heaps are from 3 to 4 feet in height. 

Copper, stone and shell implements and fragments of pot- 
tery vessels have been found here and upon the adjoining farms. 

In a communication dated May 4, 1903, and directed to Mr. 
A. F. Laue of Milwaukee, Mr. Richter speaks of a long mound 
or embankment which extends from his cottage at Boom bay in 
the Town of Wolf River, in a notheasterly direction to the prop- 
erty of his neighbor, Mr. Fred Spiegelberg. 

In making some excavations upon his property, Mr. Richter 
and Professor Nott of Milwaukee recently unearthed a large 
number of human bones which were buried there. 

35. Clark's Point Mounds. — At this place in the south- 
east quarter of section 33, about 500 feet east of the east shore of 
Lake Winneconne and elevated about 35 feet above it, there is a 
mound resembling the so-called "turtle" form. 

It measures 63 feet in length and 30 feet across its widest 
part at the limib-like projections near the head. It is about 3 
feet in height. 

This mound has been dug into by curiosity seekers and its 
contour somewhat disturbed. The grove in which it is located 
is employed as a picnic ground. 

About 30 feet northeast of this mound there is a round 
mound 20 feet in diameter and about 2 feet in height. It has 
not been excavated. 

36. Cross Cornfield. — In a communication addressed to 
Mr. Charles E. Brown and dated April 17, 1903, Hon. James 
G. Pickett calls attention to an aboriginal cornfield, probably 
three or four acres in extent, formerly located in a black oak 
grove on property owned by Mr. S. J. Cross, in the west half of 
the southwest quarter of section 36. 

In passing this place several years ago, Mr. Pickett noted 



LAWSON— Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 69 

that a portion of the tract formerly occupied by cornhills had been 
placed under cultivation. 

He is not certain but that the property may have changed 
hands since. 

Town of Winneconne* 

37. PiACENZA Shell Heaps. — There were formerly lo- 
cated near this place in the northwest quarter of fractional sec- 
tion 4, according to Mr. Clarence Olen of Oshkosh, a number 
of sheli heaps. 

I have visited the site but could find only a few scattered 
shells, the property having since been put under cultivation. 

Arrow and spear points, bone awls and pottery fragments 
have been collected here. 

38. PiACENZA Kame Burials. — In removing gravel from 
a pit located about ^ of a mile east of the last mentioned site 
two or three skeletons have been disinterred. It is highly prob- 
able that others may yet be found there. 

39. Lasley Village Site. — This has been described by 
the author in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of January 7, 
1899, and also in the October, 1902, issue of the Wisconsin Arch- 
eollogist. (Vol. 2, No. i.) 

The site is located on the 192 acre tract of land owned and oc- 
cupied by Mr. R. Lasley, in the southwest quarter of section 
10, on the eastern shore of Lake Winneconne, about one mile 
north of the village of Winneconne. 

This village site, which begins at the low eastern shore of the 
lake, rises gradually until at its farthest limit, about one-third of 
a mile beyond, it reaches an elevation of about 25 feet above the 
lake level. Scattered all along up this gentle wooded slope, are shell 
heaps at distances varying from a few to as much as 300 feet 
apart. Some of them were probably not more than 20 feet in 
length and 10 feet in width. Their disposition is not such as to 
indicate that there was any particular plan of arrangement. 

There are eighteen shell heaps upon the property, the greater 
number of which, being located in the woods, are still in a good 
state of preservation. Those nearest the lake shore have been 
levelled by the plow and the materials scattered. They are general- 
ly long and narrow in shape and from 18 to 30 inches in height. 
One of the largest measures 126 feet in length and 15 feet in 
width and another of about the same general dimensions has an 
elbow projecting at a rigiit angle from one end and terminating in 



70 WISCONSIN ARCHKOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

a stone heap 4 feet in diameter. They are .constructed of about 
equal proportions of sand and shells and are now overgrown with 
trees and brush. Some of the trees are of large size and girth. 
The shells are now generally quite badly weathered and de- 
composed and the most of them crumble so very easily that 
it is only with difficulty that good specimens can be secured. 
From an examination of these, it has been possible to recognize 
at least four distinct species including Quadrula pustulosa, Lea., 
Quadrula undulata, Barnes., Unio rectus, Lam., and Lampsilis 
ligamentinus, Lam., all of which are quite common in the neigh- 
boring lakes and streams. It is highly probable that upon these 
refuse heaps were formerly located the lodges or habitations to 
which these mussels and fish and game were taken to be pre- 
pared and eaten. 

In the rather limited exploration of these works which owing 
to the superstition of the owners it has been possible to make, 
there have been collected a number of bone implements and 
decorated bones, four ivory implements, two socketed copper 
spearpoints. and fragments of pottery vessels. Among the lat- 
ter, are some showing the impressions of a fine, closely woven, 
grass fabric. Ahnost every part of this property exhibits abund- 
ant evidences of aboriginal occupation. About 15 acres of it are 
covered with the long, regular corn rows of the aborigines. Near 
at hand, are also to be seen hundreds of stone heaps of various 
sizes, and a considerable number of apparently artificial depres- 
sions, each about 3 feet in diameter and 8 inches in depth, which 
may have served as bake holes or for the threshing of wild rice 
after the custom of some of the local tribes, as related by Gov- 
ernor J. D. Doty. 

40. Ball Prairie Abounds. — These mounds are noted in a 
letter addressed by Hon. James G. Pickett to Mr. Charles E. 
Brown (Apl. 17. 1903) of which the following is an extract: 

"I think it was on the east half of the southeast quarter 
of section i in the town of Winneconne, and on property probab- 
ly now owned by ¥. G. or J. Cross, that there were located at an 
early day several quite prominent mounds. 

A beautiful little prairie called 'Ball Prairie' and by which 
the locality is still known, then covered a part of these lands. 

In the spring of 1900, in passing along the north and south 
road, I noticed two of the mounds still remaining in a field of 
grain about 50 rods back from the west side of the road. There 
may have been other mounds in that vicinity." 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago Connty, Wisconsin. 71 

41. Big Butte des Morts. — This supposed mound is 
described by Dr. I. A. Lapham in his "Antiquities of Wisconsin" 
(pp. 63) as follows: "Just before the Neenah (Fox) river 
enters Lake Winnebago it expands into a broad sheet of water 
called the Great Butte des Morts lake. Near the head of this lake 
is the mound from which its name is derived, on the north or 
left bank of the river. This is the site of the conflict of the 
Chippewas and French against the Sauk and Fox bands, but I 
can find no authority for the belief that the tumulus was raised for 
covering the bodies of the slain." 

There can be no doubt that Dr. Lapham's description refers 
to the natural elevation upon which the present village of Butte 
des Morts is located, since every attempt on the part of myself 
and others to locate such a tumulus any where along the river 
has failed. Even Dr. Lapham appears to have believed the ele- 
vation to be of natural origin. 

In the digging of cellars and gardens and the making of 
streets at this place a large number of shallow graves have been 
opened and found to contain human bones and implements. 

There is a great deal of assumed history about this elevation 
which the student of antiquities will do well to avoid. 

There were, however, in this village when Hon. James G. 
■Pickett first visited the locality in the year 1848, in a district now 
occupied by dwellings and streets, an oblong embankment about 
150 feet in' length and 20 feet in width and 5- feet in height; and 
near it several small circular mounds. All of these could be seen 
from the river. Some traces of the oblong mound still remain. 

Town of Omro. 

42. Omro Village Site.— According to Mr. T. R. Fowler 
of Omro, abundant indications of the former location of an abor- 
iginal village site and burial place have been found upon a tract 
of land owned bv Mrs. Catherine Dunn, in the northwest quarter 
of section 18, on the north bank of the Fox river near the village 
of Omro. 

From this tract a large number of stone and copper imple- 
ments, potsherds and human bones have been collected. 

Upon the farm of Mr. C. E. King in the same quarter section 
indications of an Indian cornfield were still to be seen several 
years ago. There Avere to be observed at that time four parallel 
rows of hills, extending in an east and west direction and each 
about two rods in length. The hills were from 8 to 10 inches 
in height. 



72 WISCONSIN A.RCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

43. Bayou Village Site. — Mr. Fowler also reports the 
location of a village site and indications of extensive aboriginal 
cornfields upon an elevation on the J. S. Bennetts place, near 
the Fox river, in section 17. 

The site is bounded on its west and south sides by a bayou. 

44. Kame Burials. — In a communication addressed to Mr. 
Chas. E. Brown, dated Mar. 2, 1902, Hon. James G. Pickett calls 
attention to the fact that many skeletons and some implements 
have been disinterred at different times in working the gravel 
pit of the Cook & Brown Lime Company located about two miles 
west of the Hammer place. 

Town of Utica. 

45. ''Spread Eagle" and "Alligator" Mounds. — These 
are described by Dr. Increase A. Lapham in his "Antiquities of 
Wisconsin." (pp. 63). 

"Near a small stream, called Eight-mile creek, in the town 
of Utica on the land of Mr. E. B. Fiske (northwest quarter of 
section fourteen, township seventeen, range fifteen) is a mound 
called the Spread Eagle (see Plate XLI, No. 3). It is of small 
dimensions, the whole length being only forty-six feet. 

"There are two oblong embankments in the vicinity ; and the 
house is built upon another called the Alligator, but its form 
could not be traced at the time of our visit. (1851). 

"Mr. Pickett, who has carefully investigated this record for 
the author, says, "I am satisfied that no such mounds ever ex- 
isted here. Mr. Fiske is no longer living, but Mr. E. B. Ransom, 
who has resided on the adjoining farm since Mr, Fiske located 
his house here in 1846, has never heard of them." 

46. Hunter Mounds. — One forty acre piece of land belong- 
ing to Mr. J. L. Hunter in the northeast quarter of the southeast 
quarter of section 20 consists of prairie land which slopes gently 
northward to the O. F. Miller farm across the highway. 

"In 1846," writes Mr. Pickett, "these lands were in a state 
of nature. Extending diagonally nearly across both of these forties 
for a distance of 120 rods in a southwesterly direction, was a row 
of about thirty round mounds, each about 20 feet in diameter and 
2 feet in height. 

Approaching this line of mounds at right angles from section 
21, to the east, was a long tapering mound. Its near extremity 
came to within 250 feet of the line of mounds and extended 
back in a northeasterly direction for a distance of 400 feet over 



LAWSON— Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County. Wisconsin. 73 

Mr. L. S. Hunter and Mr. J. Roberts' land in section 21, and was 
cut in twain by the highway between the farms. 

It was two feet in height and 12 feet in width at the extremity 
nearest the mounds and gradually decreased in width until it dis- 
appeared in the surrounding soil." 

47. Pickett Mound. — This mound is located in the south- 
west quarter of section 20. 

Mr. Pickett reports that it is located near the apex of a hill 
about 100 feet in elevation, the highest land in the vicinity and 
overlooking the country for miles in every direction. 

A road which ascends the hill winds past the mound. It is 
oval in shape, 3 feet in height, 30 feet in length and 15 feet in 
width. It has not been investigated. 

48. Beans Mounds. — These mounds are located on the 
E. Beans' property in the southwest quarter of the northeast quar- 
ter of section 25, a few rods south of the road which crosses the 
land. There are two or three quite prominent mounds in this 
group, located on land wdiich has undergone but little cultivation. 

They were originally about 6 feet in height. When Mr. Pick- 
ett visited the locality about three years ago they were still about 
4 feet in height. 

49. Thada Mounds. — Mr. Pickett has kindly reported the 
existence of this group of tumuli to me. 

They are located on a farm now occupied by Mr. John Thada 
in the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 19, 
about one mile east of the shore of Rush lake. There are four 
or five round mounds in the group, each about 10 or 12 feet in 
diameter and at the present time not more than one foot in ele- 
vation. They are situated on rather low, but ordinarily dry 
ground, still covered with timber. They have not been disturbed. 

Town of Wolf River. 

50. TusTiN Mounds. — These mounds are located in the 
northwest quarter of section 31, about ^4 of a mile north of Lake 
Poygan and y> mile east of and across the county line from the 
village of Tustin in Waushara county. 

The group, which must have been at one time an imposing 
one, comparing favorably with any in the county, consists of a 
total of 16 circular and effigy mounds following a general north- 
east course. It is located on land elevated about 15 feet above 
the lake. 



74 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

Although these works have been under cultivation for many 
years they are still sufficiently prominent in the fields to attract 
attention. The exact outlines of the effigies, which appear to have 
represented bird, turtle and other animal forms, are no longer 
obtainable. 

They vary in size from 30 to 200 feet in length and some of 
them are still 4 feet in height. Some of the round mounds have 
been disturbed by "relic hunters," but no regular exploration has 
ever been made. Implements of clay, stone and copper have been 
found quite abundantly in this vicinity. Every trace of an abor- 
iginal cornfield formerly located near the mounds, has now van- 
ished. 

Town of Poygan. 

51. PoYGAN Village Site. — -Soon after Governor Henry 
Dodge's treaty at the Cedars, opposite Kimberly in Outagamie 
county, with the Menomonee Indians in 1836, by which large tracts 
of their lands were purchased, they were settled on the south shore 
of Lake Poygan. There were then 700 or more Indians in the 
tribe and their tepees were scattered along the lake shore in small 
groups for a distance of six miles or more in the town of Poygan 
and into the town of Winneconne. 

Traces of their cornfields and burial grounds are still to be 
seen in several places in this district. 

They remained here for twenty years, or until 1856, when 
they were removed to their present reservation near Shawano, 
Shawano county, Wis. 

Town of Rushford. 

52. Lapone's Village Site. — About the year 1836 and for 
some years later there was a Menomonee Indian village of "Wau- 
kau" located on the north shore of the Fox river opposite the 
old village of Delhi. 

According to Hon. H. H. G. Bradt of Eureka this village was 
still in existence at this point when he settled in the town of Rush- 
ford in 1849. 

The chief at that time was called "Lapone," an excellent 
Indian. 

The village consisted of a dozen cabins and about thirty peo- 
ple. 

Traces of their corn hills and burying- ground may still be 
seen. 



LAWSON — Summary of the Archeology ofWinnebago Coimty, Wisconsin. 



53. Delhi Mounds. — This group of six mounds is located 
in section 23, on an open prairie elevated about 10 feet above the 
Fox river, near the village of Delhi. 

The first mound is about 90 rods south of the river. It was 
formerly 6 feet in height and 70 feet in diameter. In 1849 M^* 
H. G. Elliott built his residence upon it, excavating into the mound 
for his cellar. It is said that no discoveries of any consequence 
were made during the digging. 

The site is now occupied by a barn. 

About 180 feet south of the last there is a second mound 
measuring 3 feet in height and 45 feet in diameter. This mound 
has never been investigated. 

The third mound is about 420 feet south of the former. It 
was formerly 60 feet in diameter and 6 feet in height. Mr. Louis 
La Borde, a pioneer, built his house upon this mound. 

In digging his cellar he disinterred human and animal bones. 

At a distance of about 420 feet south of the third is a fourth 
mound which was formerly used as a graveyard by the La Borde 
family. This mound is 75 feet in diameter and 6 feet in height. 

The fifth mound is about 460 feet west of the last. It is 8 
feet in height and 75 feet in diameter. In 1846 this mound was 
employed by Mr. Luke La Borde as a root cellar. 

Mr. La Borde told my informant. Mr. H. H. G. Bradt, that 
near its bottom he found a bed of charcoal and "a large mass 
of copper." Mr. Bradt recollects meeting Governor J. D. Doty 
at the La Borde's in 1849. When told of this find the Governor 
remarked: ''We are in a country, with a great, but I fear an un- 
fathomable history." 

The last mound in the group is situated in a .cultivated field 
at a distance of 750 feet southeast of the fourth mound. It is 
84 feet in diameter and 8 feet in height. 

All of these mounds are constructed of clay and mold of 
the same nature as the surrounding soil. 

54. Eureka Mound. — The author is indebted to Hon. H. 
H. G. Bradt of Eureka for mformation concerning a round 
mound which formerly stood on the edge of the public highway 
in that village and which has long since disappeared. 

Of its exact size or contents nothing can be learned. 

There was also an aboriginal burying-ground near this vil- 
lage in former years. In a search for mounds made in November, 
1902. Mr. Bradt, who is a careful observer, was unable to locate 
any other works than those here described from the town of 
Rushford. 



76 "WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

Town of Nepcuskon. 

The following extract from a letter directed by Hon. James 
G. Pickett to Mr. Chas. E. Brown, dated April 17, 1903, will as- 
sist the reader to a proper understanding of the antiquities listed 
under this town. He says : "Agreeable to my promise I have 
revisited all of the village sites, mounds and other evidences lo- 
cated on the east side of Rush lake in the town of Nepeuskun. 

I had been over them all many times during the years fol- 
lowing 1846. The mounds were then quite prominent and re- 
mained so for seven or eight years later, when those who had 
entered the land began its clearing and cultivation. 

At the present time they are nearly obliterated and their exact 
locations can only be learned through the assistance of the old 
residents. 

Probably no section of the state was in prehistoric time more 
densely populated than the eastern border of Rush lake. 

In fact this entire shore line appears to have been one con- 
tinuous village site, as evidenced by the numerous mounds and 
earthworks and the hundreds of human remains exhumed from 
them or turned up in the fields by the plow. Nowhere in the 
state has a greater harvest of aboriginal implements of stone and 
copper been obtained, and certainly no site could have been better 
chosen for the location of an aboriginal village. 

The locality known as Dutchman's island, bounded on the 
west by the lake and on its other sides by great peat marshes, was 
then a veritable island, containing about three sections of firm 
ground. The lake had its outlet at its southern extremity, con- 
necting with Green Lake and the Fox river instead of at its north- 
eastern side as now. 

The waters of the lake were from 4 to 6 feet higher than at 
present, thus covering the great marshes and making it fully three 
times its present size. 

The evidence of this change is shown by the miles of ridges 
surrounding the marshes, composed of gravel, boulders, shells 
and the debris thrown up by the action of the ice. 

The island was only approachable by boat and could be 
easily defended. Wild rice, fish and waterfowl were very abund- 
ant. These natural advantages combined to make the locality an 
ideal dwelling place." 

55. Rush Lake Enclosure. — In a communication dated 
April II, 1903, and directed to Hon. James G. Pickett, Mr. W. H. 
Eoote, a pioneer resident of the town of Nepeuskun, gives the 



LAWSON — Summary of tbe Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 77 

following information in regard to an enclosure (Fig. 7) for- 
merly located on the property of his father, Mr. E. P. Foote, lo- 
cated at the head of Rush lake in the southeast quarter of the 
southwest quarter of section 11. 

"The sides of the square were about 4 rods long, 3 to 4 feet 
high and 3 to 4 feet broad. They had probably once been some- 
what higher. At the openings at each corner within the square 
were round mounds of earth. 

When we first broke up the land for cultivation we went 
around it, but it has since been obliterated by successive plowings." 

This property is now owned by Mr. Will Hall." 




Fig. 7. 

56. Hall Mounds. — These were located on the north shore 
of Rush lake, on the farm of Mr. Will Hall, on fractional section 
14. 

The first of these tumuli stands at a distance of about 200 
feet north of the lake shore on land elevated about 50 feet above 
the water. It was constructed of rich loam similar to the sur- 
rounding soil and was 30 feet in diameter and 6 feet in height. 

This mound was excavated by Mr. Charles Stever of Waukau 
and the following description is drawn from notes kindly fur- 
nished me by him. 

Below the base of the mound on a hard earthen floor and 
lying in a general north and south direction, the head toward 
the north, the bones of a human skeleton were unearthed. Near 
the left hip bone a catlinite platform pipe was found. The bones 
were in a poor state of preservation and fell to pieces when their 



78 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

removal was attempted. Fragments of broken pottery were 
found throughout the mound. 

At a distance of 200 feet west of this mound there was a 
second of the same material. When excavated by Mr. Stever 
this mound was found to contain at its base a single interment, 
the grave being walled in on either side by a double row of round 
and flat boulders probably gathered from the neighboring fields. 
The grave lay north and south and the stone walls were 2 feet 
apart, 20 inches in height and 6 feet in length. There was no 
head or foot or top or bottom stone. Besides the very much 
decomposed bones of the leg, arm, ribs and a portion of the skull 
there were taken from this grave a number of animal bones, a 
turtle shell, clam shells, pottery fragments and flint chips. Dis- 
tributed through the base of the mound was a large quantity of 
charcoal, some of the pieces being of unusually large size. 

Both of these mounds are about 3 ffet in height at the present 
time. 

They have been under cultivation for fifty years. Mr. Will 
Hall has carted a number of wagon loads of black earth from 
them. 

About 20 feet to the west of this mound Mr. Stever located 
a number of Indian graves from which he took six human crania, 
which he afterwards reinterred in the same place. The bones 
were well preserved, indicating that they were of more recent 
origin than the mound burials. 

Mr. W. H. Foote in a letter to Mr. Pickett corroborates the 
statements made by Mr. Stever, but adds that there were origin- 
ally three mounds in the group. 

57. Outlet Village Site. — Up to as late as the year 1846 
there was according to Hon. James G. Pickett, a Winnebago vil- 
lage numbering- from one to two hundred Indians, located about 
the present outlet of Rush lake near the center of section 13, of 
this town. 

The cemetery belonging thereto was located on the farm 
of Mr. David Lewellyn on the south side of the present highway 
and about 40 rods east of the outlet bridge. 

In a communication directed to the author and dated Novem- 
ber 30, 1902, Mr. Pickett gives the following interesting descrip- 
tion of the burial customs practiced here, as observed by him- 
self : 

''With the Winnebago Indians there were two styles of 
burial, temporary and permanent. A person dying in the winter 
lime when the earth was frozen solid was wrapped in his blanket 



LAWSON— Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago Cotjnty, Wisconsin. 79 

and usually enclosed in a roll of bark, or the body was deposited 
in the smallest canoe at hand and elevated into the branches of 
a tree. Sometimes a stag-ing was built between two trees and 
firmly secured, and the remains placed upon it. They were left 
in this position until the frost had left the ground in the spring, 
when the permanent grave burial occurred. Not having proper 
digging implements a shallow grave seldom more than two feet 
in depth and slightly rounded over with earth was prepared and 
the body placed therein. 

A small forked post about three feet in height was set in the 
ground at each end of the grave. These posts supported a ridge 
pole against which, one end resting on the ground, were placed 
split shakes or puncheons, thus forming an '■A"-shaped enclosure 
over the grave and protecting- it from disturbance by wild 
animals. 

To mark the grave of an adult male a peeled post about 8 
feet high and painted in two colors was set in the ground at its 
head. 

If the deceased was a man of note his white dog (if he owned 
one, if not, one was found) was killed and hung by the neck to 
the post. 

Such graves were very common at the different villages of 
the ^^'innebagoes at the time of the settlement of the county by 
the whites. 

When I first visited the village site above described in the 
early summer of 1846, I think that there were to be seen at that 
place as many as fifty gra,ves with their roof coverings in various 
stages of dilapidation and decay, as weld as several recently 
made and with the dogs suspended from the painted posts at their 
head. I believe that it was during the winter of 1847 that I saw 
the last elevated temporary burial at this place. 

In exhuming these graves the only articles which have been 
brought to light were a few glass beads, a childish trinket, a rusty 
knife or some similar object. 

I have, however, been informed by the Indians that when a 
great man dies, a noted chief, or one who has in Indian ways dis- 
tinguished himself, his most valuable belongings were buried with 
him. 

If he owned horses, the most valuable one was killed on the 
day of his master's death, but not buried with him. His gun was 
usually interred with the body, so that with his horse, dog and 
gun he was fully equipped for business in the new field to which 
he was going." 



80 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 



58. Anklam Point Camp Site. — Mr. Pickett states that 
in the year 1846, this peninsula located in the northwest quarter 
of section 24 was covered with a heavy growth of hard maple. 

It was undoubtedly a favorite camping- ground of the In- 
dians, as a large amount of pottery fragments are still scattered 
over the now cultivated land. 

59. Eagle Point Mounds. — ^Upon a sharp wedge of land 
locally known as Eagle point, in the northeast quarter of section 
26, where the north and south boundary line of sections 25 and 
26 touches the shore of Rush lake, there were formerly located 
according to Mr. Reagan, an old resident of the neighborhood, 
one or two small round mounds and a number of Indian graves. 

60. Radke Mounds. — Upon the property of Mr. F. Radke 
and about 20 rods east of the shore of Rush lake (N. W. J4 sec. 
25) there was formerly located a group of some seven or eight 
round mounds. 

Mr. Reagan, who recently piloted Mr. Pickett over the pro- 
perty, stated that when he first noted them in about the year 1857, 
before the land was cultivated, they were from 18 to 20 feet in di- 
ameter and not more than three feet in height. 

Although nearly obliterated indications of five of these 
mounds are still to be seen. 

61. Dutchman's Island Group No. i. — "Gleason Mounds." 
A paper treating of this group was read before the Lapham 
Archeological Society of Milwaukee, in 1878, by Mr. Thomas 
Armstrong of Ripon. Extracts of this article were afterwards 
published by the same gentleman in the U. S. Smithsonian Re- 
port of the year 1879. 

"These mounds," says he, "are situated on the southern shore 
of Rush Lake, on land belonging to Mr. (J.) Gleason in the south- 
east quarter of the southeast quarter of section 27, and the south- 
west quarter of the southwest quarter of section 26, and 

were visited by a party of students from Ripon College, May 12, 

1877- 

The mounds, sixteen in number, are ranged in an irregular 

line running essentially east and west, about 20 rods from the 
shore of the lake, which is here high and steep, though all the ad- 
jacent shores are low and marshy. 

The mounds are in what is now a wheatfield, formerly cov- 
ered with timber, an oak tree, some sixty years old, having been 
cut from the summit of one of them. All of these mounds are 
circular in form varying from 15 to 30 feet in diameter, and from 
2^^ to 5^ feet in height, though not much can be said with cer- 



lyAWSON — Summary of the Archeology of Winnebago County, Wisconsin. 81 

tainty about this latter dimension, the land having been cultivated 
for a number of years, and the mounds plowed down as much 
as possible every year. 

We selected the largest and most conspicuous mound we 
could find, the fourth or fifth from the eastern end of the line, and 
sank a trench into it. 

Each shovelful of soil thrown out was carefully examined 
but w^as found to present no difference in appearance from that 
of the surrounding- field, until we reached a depth of i8 inches, 
when a few pieces of coarse grained charcoal were found. The 
earth now began to show the action of heat, it being harder and 
of a reddish hue, until at a depth of 2 feet and 6 inches layers 
of ashes mixed with earth began to present themselves. These 
appearances were the same all through the trench on the same 
level, being only seen near the ends of it as if separate fires had 
been built. These appearances continued until we reached the 
depth of 3 feet and 9 inches, the ashes meanwhile growing more 
plentiful, when we found charred bones, evidently those of human 
beings, mixed with earth and ashes. A few inches more of cal- 
cined earth was passed and then we struck bones in earnest. 

Within the space of 3 feet square we uncovered seven skulls, 
mingled with the various long, short and flat bones of the human 
body. These, unlike those in the upper stratum, did not show 
the action of fire in the least, but were so badly decayed that we 
could get none of them out entire. 

The bones were not arranged in any order whatever; no 
single skeleton even could be traced through the mass. We did 
not uncover all of the bones within the mound, but. finding that 
none of them could be taken out entire, contented ourselves with 
digging through the layer of bones and earth, which was 4 inches 
thick, to the hard subsoil underneath, which we found so com- 
pact that we concluded it had never been disturbed, and so did 
not go deeper. 

A careful search failed to bring to light any ornaments or 
implements of any kind. 

We now abandoned this mound and selecting two nearer the 
eastern end of the line, which in size were most unlike the first, 
and unlike each other, proceeded to sink trenches into them. 

In the larger of these at the depth of 4 feet, human bones 
were found, which were much better preserved than those in the 
first mound opened, though they showed the same lack of ar- 
rangement and dearth of ornaments and implements. 

Fewer ashes were found in this mound and no charcoal or 
burnt bone. 



82 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2. Nos. 2 and 3. 

In the third mound, at the depth of 2j/^' feet, a skeleton was 
found, lying with its head toward the west. 

This was in so good a state of preservation that many of the 
more heavy and solid bones could be taken out ; this skull, like all 
the others, could not be gotten out except in small pieces. 

This was the only mound of the three into which we dug, in 
which a skeleton could be traced, and even in this the bones were 
somewhat crowded together, the skeleton not lying extended at 
full length, and also somewhat miixed up with others, though I 
think fewer bones had been buried in this mound than in any 
of the others. 

I would mention that the second and third mounds were much 
smaller than the first. 

We were inclined to think that the dry bones were gathered 
together — those in the larger mounds first and in the smaller 
ones afterward, and placed in loose piles on the ground and the 
earth heaped over them until the mounds were formed. 

It also seemed from the ashes and charred bones near the 
surface that the larger mounds had been used for sacrifices or 
feasts. 

Professor (A. H.) Sabin. Mr. (Everett) Martin and I after- 
ward made an investigation of another of these Gleason mounds. 

This one was situated near the center of the group; is 30 
feet in diameter and 3^ feet high. Like the others it contained 
nothing but bones, was built of the same material and had its 
full share of ashes and charcoal. But unlike the others, an oval 
i>it 18 inches deep, 8 feet long and 5 feet wide, its m'ajor axis 
lying in a general northwest and southeast direction. In this 
case some arrangement was apparent, the bones of the lower 
extremities being, as a rule, near the center of the pit, and those 
of the trunk and upper extremities, ranged around the sides." 

In a letter directed to Mr. Charles E. Brown dated March 
2, 1903, Mr. Pickett, who first visited these mounds in the fall 
of 1 846, gives the following additional information in regard 
to them : "If I remember correctly there were some twelve or fif- 
teen mounds in the group located in a direct line nearly parallel 
to and about 20 rods distant from the lake shore. The land was 
then overgrown with white and burr oak timber. 

The mounds were elveated about 12 feet above the lake 
level, and were about 20 feet in diameter and from 4 to 6 feet 
high. 

In 1894 with the assistance of my hired man, I investigated 
one of the largest of these mounds. This is probably the one 
referred to by Mr. W, C, Mills in his communication in the 



LAWSON — Sttmmary of the Archeology- of Winnebago Connty, Wisconsin. 83 

Archeologist of February, 1895. T do not know from what paper 
his extract was taken. It is in some respects inaccurate. In exca- 
vating this mound we found at a depth of about a foot below its 
base the skeletons of seven persons, lying upon their faces with 
arms extended above the head, the bodies radiating from the 
center in a circle like the spokes of a wagon wheel. 

All of the bones were in a fair state of preservation. No 
implements other than a couple of arrow points were found. 
Evidently the burials were made at one time and the mound 
erected over them." 

Two of the crania secured were sent to Prof. F. W. Putnam 
at the Peabody Institute at Cambridge, Mass., at his request. 
Another remains in Mr. Pickett's possession. 

At the request of Mr. C. E. Brown, Mr. Pickett again visited 
this locality in April of the present year and found that all but five 
of them had been entirely obliterated. .He concludes that a 
village of considerable proportions must have been at one time 
located here and in the vicinity, since probably but few similar 
sections of land in the state have produced such a large num- 
ber of stone and copper instruments. All of the mounds have 
been found to contain human remains. 

62. Dutchman's Island Group No. 2. — These mounds 
which were described by Mr. Thomas Armstrong of Ripon, Wis., 
in an article entitled "Mounds in Winnebago County," appearing 
in the U. S. Smithsonian Report of 1879 (pp. 335-39) were lo- 
cated on the property of a Mr. M. Hintz in the southwest quarter 
of the northeast quarter of Section 34. The following are extracts 
from his description : 

"They are situated about 10 rods from the shore of Rush 
lake, 60 feet back from the edge of a steep bank, which undoubt- 
edly at one time formed the shore of the lake, whose waters have 
now receded, and are every year becoming more and more shal- 
low, and giving place to marsh. 

•■*.,. These mounds were originally covered with a 
heavy growth of oaks, which have been cleared off within the last 
ten years, and the land cultivated. Some stumps of trees remained 
on them until last summer. 

"The mounds are in a group of which No. i is isolated, and 
Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are in line, the nearest about 100 feet from No. i. 

"Nos. I and 4 are about 15 feet in diameter, and 2^ feet 
high ; No. 2, 56 by 42 feet and 3^ feet high ; No. 3, 30 by 40 feet 
and 3>^ feet high ; Nos. 2 and 3 are 75 feet apart. A quadrilateral 
ridge, indistinct in some places but quite prominent enough to be 



84 WISCONSIN ARCHEOLOGIST. Vol. 2, Nos. 2 and 3. 

easily recognized, and having on it several small monnds at regu- 
lar intervals, passes through Nos. i and 2. The mounds 2, 3 and 
4 are the only ones which are distinct and striking. 

"The shape of all was once circular, or nearly so, but it has 
long since been changed to oval by long cultivation. 

"All except No. 2 are composed of the same sort of material 
as the ordinary surface soil of the surrounding fields, and these 
fields are undoubtedly the source whence it was derived. No 
ditches or hollows from which such a quantity of earth could have 
been taken are now to be seen in the vicinity, and it must therefore 
have been scraped uniformly from the surface 

"No. 2, however, is of a different material, having in its cen- 
ter a stone-heap covered with the same sort of earth as the others. 
This is the largest mound on Rush lake and is peculiar in this re- 
gard, for in most other mounds not even a pebble could be found, 
and in none were there rocks of any size; but here was a conical 
pile of boulders such as the farmer to-day hauls off his fields, 
built in the exact center of the mound, and reaching to within a 
few inches of the surface. 

"We explored the four mounds. In Nos. i and 4 we found 
nothing, but in 2 and 3 human remains were plentiful enough, 
and a quantity of these in a tolerably good state of preservation 
we were able to obtain. 

"... No. 2 as I have said is a conical stone pile, built 
of boulders weighing from 5 to 100 pounds and perhaps fifty in 
number. 

"Underneath this stone pile and somewhat mingled with its 
lower layer, was a large quantity of ashes and charcoal, and also 
human remains ; most distinct among them was the skeleton of a 
full grown man of ordinary size, his thigh bone measuring 17 
inches, lying in a doubled-up position, with his head toward the 
west, and near it the remains of three or more other human beings. 

"The bones were in a poor condition, but by care two skulls 
and several long bones were saved. These were all found at a 
depth of 3 feet and 6 inches.'' 

Mr. Armstrong also examined moimd No. 3 and at a depth 
of 2 feet a few smaill and much broken pieces of pottery, made of 
a reddish clay mixed with fine particles of broken stone, a small 
flint chip and a piece of red chalk or soft chalklike stone. 

"x-Vt a depth of 3 feet were found a confused mass of human 
bones of which a number in tolerably good condition, including 
several skulls, were saved. 

"In no case did a skeleton seem to have been placed in the 
mound entire. The bones of twentv-five to thirtv-five individuals 



LAWSON— Stimmary of the Archeology ofWinnebago County, Wisconsin. 85 

had evidently been gathered in a heap on the original turf and the 
mound raised over them. 

''It is evident that no pit had been dug to receive them. . . 

"That these were not the remains of warriors slain in battle is 
evident from the number of bones of children found in the 
mounds. 

"No other bones than those of human beings were found, 
nor did any of them bear marks of fire, though ashes and char- 
coal occurred in a layer about 6 inches above the remains." 

Mr. Armstrong was accompanied on this expedition by Prof. 
A. H. Sabin and IVIr. Everett Martin, both of Ripon, Wis. 

Mr. James G. Pickett who visited this locality in April, 1902, 
for the purpose of collecting additional data, states that these 
mounds are now entirely obliterated. 

According to his report Mr. Hintz corroborates the early 
description of Mr. Thomas Armstrong of Ripon and states that 
when his father purchased the land these mounds were from 2 to 
6 feet in height. Human remains have been found in all of them, 
and many implements have been collected from the surrounding 
fields. 

Field Work. 

We trust that during the present season that those of our 
brother members who are not already engaged upon such re- 
searches, will find it convenient to acquaint themselves with the 
exact location, number, extent, history and character of the 
burial and effigy mounds, enclosures, village, quarry and work- 
shop sites, trails, caches, cornfields, shell-heaps, gravel-pit and 
trench burials, and other antiquities in their several counties, and 
report the same. 

It is manifestly of the greatest importance that such re- 
searches should be made as soon as possible and that all results, 
whether they consist of notes, plans, maps, photographs or mater- 
ials, should be carefully collected and forwarded to the Society. 
Now that a deeper interest is being taken in Wisconsin's pre-his- 
tory, it may be possible through the vigilance of our members to 
preserve local evidences, at least until surveys and explorations 
can be made by the Society. All who participate in this work 
will be given full credit therefor in future publications. 

On application to the Secretary the Society will be pleased 
to furnish to the members, lists of the antiquities already described 
from their several districts, together with full directions for prop- 
erly conducting such researches. 

RoLLAND L. Porter, 
Chairman, Committee on Survey and Exploration. 



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